Collins looks back, while looking ahead
- Sussex County Republican Committee
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
July 17, 2026
State Rep. Rich Collins has his heart set on going out to sea, voyaging to New England with his wife, Susie, after retiring from public office. The 77-year-old Millsboro resident and father of three — Kristen, Eric and Karen — and grandfather of five, didn’t seek re-election to represent the 41st District, as he has since 2014, and his term will end in November.
The 41st District includes Millsboro, Dagsboro, Frankford and Selbyville and the unincorporated communities of Roxana and Gumboro.
A native of Seaford and graduate of Seaford High School and the University of Delaware, Collins is widely known as one of the most conservative members of the Delaware General Assembly and has been an outspoken critic of government actions he said “infringed on citizens’ freedoms.” He has authored bills aimed at reducing taxes, limiting state agencies’ regulatory authority and increasing government accountability, according to the announcement of his plan not to seek re-election.
During an interview late last year, when he announced he would not seek re-election, Collins told the Coastal Point that he has “fought 100 percent of the time for fiscal responsibility, less spending, fewer taxes and fewer regulations by working with the Democrats and attempting to persuade them” and has “mostly focused on not doing things.”
“I have never voted for tax increases. The government has more money than they need, and the more money they get they will spend. So I have been able to stop many taxes and fees. When I was growing up, we did not go around thinking, all day long, ‘What is the government going to do for us today?’
“Now, there are millions of people in this country who go around all day long thinking that. ‘What am I going to get from the government?’ Even poor people. But they don’t realize they are paying for it in ways like the registration for their vehicles, in gas tax, in gross receipt tax for everything you buy,” he said.
Retired from a career in the insurance industry as the owner of Access Insurance & Financial Services, he was also a teacher and farmer and is the former executive director of the Positive Growth Alliance, whose members are dedicated to protecting property rights.
Collins talked to the Coastal Point about his years in office, future plans and the legacy he hopes to leave.
Q. Three candidates are running to succeed you in the primary — Republicans John Atkins, Doug Conaway and Jacki Slonin. Who are you supporting?
A. I am endorsing Doug Conaway 100 percent. I am fully behind him. I don’t want to say anything about the other two, just that I am endorsing him.
He has an incredible résumé. He enlisted in the military and served seven years, then he wanted to become a policeman. He joined the New Castle County Police, then he joined the Delaware State Police, then after 9/11, he reenlisted. He gave up his entire state police career and the pension to rejoin the military, and he served for another 20 years.
He has been all over the world. Near the end of his career, he was in charge of something like 300,000 troops. He was working for generals. It was his job to manage 300,000 troops, so he has tremendous executive experience.
I have gotten to know him. He is a man of faith, very honest and serious about life. I think he’s going to be a responsible, mature representative, and I think he and I are going to work together a little bit. If he wins, he will be the elected official, not me, but he is interested in continuing some of the priorities I had. He is not going to be mealy-mouthed.
What people do not like about politicians in general is so many of them say what they think they have to say and not really want they think or what they really want to do. I have tried not to be that way. I have found people appreciate that, and the ones who don’t, at least they know, so they can vote for somebody else. I don’t want to fool somebody into voting for me.
Q. Have you ever regretted your decision not to run again?
A. Quite the opposite. I realized if I ran again and served two years, I would be almost 80 when I got done. Physically, I am still in pretty good shape. A lot of things, I have put aside for years, things to do for other people. Plus, I’d like to accomplish a few things before I can’t do it anymore. I don’t want to wake up and find out, physically, I can’t do it anymore. I farm a little bit. I repair and rebuild antique machinery. I intend to travel with my wife. I want to take our boat on a voyage to New England, at least to the cape.
We were going to go to the Holy Land. Our church — Crossroads Church between Georgetown and Bridgeville — was organizing a trip and we went to the meetings, and because of the invasion of Hamas we never got to go. Then this war came up and we also heard incredible stories about a lot of walking and hills that we might not be able to do. We do want to go to the Creation Museum in Kentucky, though.
Q. What will you miss the most about being in office?
A. Not a whole lot. My life has changed. Nobody lives forever, and I don’t have that many years left to argue about it. I want to get on to the next phase of my life and do things for people in ways other than politics.
Q. Do you have interest in ever running again, for any office?
A. I’ll be very honest. If there was any way of winning for a Republican, I’d be interested in running for governor, but I’ve learned about tilting at windmills. The registration numbers are just too out of whack. To win, it’s going to take someone with a lot more resources than I have and a lot more energy.
Q. What concerns you about the future?
A. I’d like to think I had some value in being in office. There are thousands of years of history there. And now, somebody is going to do something. I stopped obsessing about it. We are going to fumble our way through it, either for the good or for the bad.
Once I’m out of office, I will have very little influence compared to what I have had, and I fully understand that. People only want to know about the guy who just won. I have had my chance to speak many times, and I think I’m close to being done. That doesn’t mean there won’t be issues that come up that I won’t try to have influence over. In general, I intend to do my thing and let others take over.
Q. What are you most proud of during your years in office?
A. As far as legislation, I am proud that a bill got passed in the Senate, HB329, that I worked on. [The bill, primarily sponsored by Collins, places limits on a governor’s emergency-declaration powers.]
It started with COVID and the lockdown. I felt it was wrong. I felt it was not right for the state to be run by just one person, by the governor, for so long. When the emergency was declared by our governor, the General Assembly didn’t even meet for months. We were supposed to go back in session, but we never met again until the very last few days of the session, and that was all by video, which had never been done before.
What people didn’t understand, in my opinion, is we are supposed to have three branches of government, but for at least a year, there was no legislative branch and there was no judicial branch, either. The courts were shut down. You could not go to court. You could not go to trial. There was no way to do it.
If the General Assembly had said, back then, we’ve got to pass a bill and not do that anymore, the governor would have vetoed it. This way, we set up a system by, if after six months of an emergency, if the General Assembly wanted to, they could meet and they could pass a concurrent resolution that does not require the governor’s signature that says the emergency has ended.
My fear is that, someday, you might have a governor that we don’t know yet who could be totally abusive or really wrong. And you don’t want that person running the state single-handedly. That creates legal ways for the General Assembly to make sure the government can function the way it is supposed to under the constitution.
Q. You have said you’re proud of your ability to work as well with liberals as with conservatives.
A. Yes, and I have. I have worked closely with Democrats and liberals. I have a lot of good friends who are not in any way on my side on many issues, but if you look with an open mind and observe, most of those legislators have no voice. They just do what they’re told.
Q. What do you think of Gov. Matt Meyer?
A. I don’t have a lot of problems with Gov. Meyer. I’m not here to demonize him in any way.
Q. What legacy do you hope to leave?
A. That I wanted to try to protect the average person, to help them have a better life. It means helping people to become independent, to stand on their own two feet, to understand the virtue of being able to do that. And I hope some of that got through. I see too many people out there that, if they continue down the path they are going now, they’ll never have a good life.
