Former New York Rep. Chris Collins, pardoned by Trump, seeks comeback in Florida

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Roll Call

Posted January 23, 2026 at 10:21am


Republican former Rep. Chris Collins, who represented a Western New York district until he resigned in 2019 and pleaded guilty in a corruption scandal, on Friday announced his comeback bid in Florida. Collins, who was pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2020, is joining a crowded primary field for the deep-red seat that Republican Rep. Byron Donalds is vacating to run for governor of Florida.

Collins’ announcement highlighted his early support for Trump during the 2016 presidential primary. “I helped President Trump start the fight in 2016. I’m running for Congress to help him finish it,” he said in a statement. As part of his launch, the Collins campaign announced what it described as a six-figure television and streaming ad buy that will debut during the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl.

Collins is one of several former members from both parties seeking comeback bids this year, ranging from those whose terms ended just last year to several who’ve been out of the political spotlight for more than a decade.

The race for Florida’s 19th District, which includes Fort Myers and Naples, has attracted an eclectic mix of Republican candidates who’ve run for office in other states. Among them are former North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who lost a 2022 primary after a scandal-plagued single term; former Illinois state Sen. Jim Oberweis, who’s made multiple unsuccessful bids for Congress; conservative activist Catalina Lauf, who ran for a suburban Chicago House seat in 2022; and businesswoman Ola Hawatmeh, a 2020 House candidate in New York. Other GOP hopefuls include businessman Jim Schwartzel and Marine veteran Mike Pedersen.

Read more: https://rollcall.com/2026/01/23/former-new-york-rep-chris-collins-pardoned-by-trump-seeks-comeback-in-florida/

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Clown car full of carpet-bagging GOP loons running for that seat.

[ancianita]

1. Riding the felon's coattails, even in Florida, looks like a dumb strategy. He's got money behind him, and lots of

registered R's in FL, along with a corrupt counting state since Bush v Gore in 2000, so even if he wins it says as much about FL's corrupt election system as it does about FL voters.

[mpcamb]

2. Guy's a crook, caught redhanded!

By what mental gymnastics can he be given a pardon?

[Prairie Gates]

5. He pleaed guilty and was sentenced to 26 months in prison - didn't serve a day

It was Trump's first completely bonkers pardon, and the press let him get away with it and here we are.

[riversedge]

7. Article says he served 2 months before pardon by Trump. ..........

Trump loves to pardon those of his own kind.


.........But an insider trading scheme involving an Australian biotech company brought an end to his congressional career in 2019, just before he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and making false statements to federal investigators. The following year, he began serving a 26-month term in federal prison but received a pardon from Trump about two months into his sentence. .........................

[DJ Synikus Makisimus]

3. Can we give Florida back to Spain yet?

All we have to do is repeal the Adams-Onís Treaty or 1819, and the place becomes their problem.

In the immediate, Madison Cawthorn's reappearance in the House might give us more information about the Republican cocaine orgies.

[Prairie Gates]

4. This guy was insider trading with his whole fiucked up family directly from the WH Rose Garden

Trashbag.

[SouthBayDem]

6. Carpetbagger Chris.

The last time a "carpetbagger" won a congressional election was in 1968, Ed Foreman (R) to NM-2 (Las Cruces and vicinity), after he'd previously represented an El Paso/borderland district in Texas earlier in the '60s.

Back in 2020, the late Bobby Schilling tried something similar in an eastern Iowa district after representing a Western Illinois district but lost the R primary.

Dan Bongino unsuccessfully ran for Congress in both Maryland and Florida prior to his talk radio career.

Voters may make stupid decisions (see the 2024 election), but they at least don't buy into state-hopping.