Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins tells a battered GOP to "get up and fight" — and use Florida as the blueprint

Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, the Green Beret and Purple Heart recipient Gov. Ron DeSantis has called the "Chuck Norris of Florida politics," told Fox News Digital that Republicans should treat their midterm wipeout like a battlefield wound: get up and fight.

DeSantis described the election as a "near extinction-level" event for the party. Collins, interviewed in the days after the losses, said the result "can be a definitive death blow if we allow it to be, but I believe in what we stand for."

"Where we go from here is up to us as a Republican Party," he said. "I believe in our Constitution. I believe in our founding fathers' vision. I believe that God blessed this nation. I think we have to knuckle down, learn, apply this, and we have come out with a relentless dedication and fury to focus on what matters: To lead our state, to lead our country, and be what we need to be for the American people. That is what we should choose to do."

"Hard times happen. Warriors, leaders get up and fight. That's what we have to do now."

Collins pointed to Florida's shift from a purple swing state to what he called the "conservative proving grounds" and "the road map" for a national recovery, even as Republicans lost Texas and took a beating in Congress. "Losing sucks, winning is awesome: Let's get back to more winning," he said. "We've just got to figure out how we're going to do that, and that's achievable. I think Florida is a blueprint. I think we have a responsibility to lead."

"Be resilient. Yeah, man, you got popped. You got hurt. Get back up, dust it off, and let's go lead. Let's learn."

He said the party's biggest miss was with no-party-affiliated voters. "Republicans showed up, but the NPAs showed up and they overwhelmingly did not align with Republicans," Collins said. "What does that tell us? Well, the biggest gap we had was that we didn't spend enough time communicating to our NPAs."

Collins recalled winning his first race, in a Tampa district that "is not a conservative juggernaut," by knocking on independents' and "light D's" doors rather than fellow Republicans — and winning by 10 points. "I didn't hide from my views. I told people I'm conservative, I'm a Republican." "As a party, we need to go back to being the party that welcomes folks in – a little bit more of a big tent – but we have to stand on our conservative values," he said.

Collins is termed out with DeSantis in January. Asked about his next move in Florida or in the national party, he said, "Stay tuned."