Georgia Republican Senate candidate Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) is taking a different approach than pundits as he talks about Sen. Jon Ossoff’s (D-GA) fundraising numbers, hitting the incumbent on the number of out-of-state donors he has received.
Ossoff pulled in $20 million in the second quarter, situating him with over $42 million in cash-on-hand as he pulls into the general election race against Collins. As headlines circulate regarding Ossoff’s strong Q2 fundraising haul, Trump-endorsed Collins is drawing attention to the number of non-Georgians he says are donating to Collins’s campaign.
“Jon Ossoff doesn’t represent Georgia — he represents his out-of-state donors,” Collins wrote on X. “Only 17% of his money comes from actual Georgians. The rest? Hollywood liberals, California cash, and DC swamp creatures. Georgians deserve a Senator who answers US — not them.”
Ossoff’s $42 million war chest is nearly 20 times greater than his opponent’s, as Collins lags with just over $2 million in cash-on-hand. Ossoff has been one of the Senate’s most proven fundraisers, raising the most money of any Senate candidate since 2021, according to FEC data. But the Collins campaign also was bogged down in a competitive primary and runoff election and has been embroiled in several controversies over the past several weeks, while Ossoff cruised through to the general election without a primary opponent.
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After Collins’s campaign pulled in $2.1 million in Q2 compared to Ossoff’s $20 million, his campaign manager, Josh Siegel, touted that Collins’s “support comes from everyday Georgians because they know he will always put Georgia first.”
“Fundraising reports tell you a lot about who a candidate really answers to,” Siegel said. “There’s a reason Jon Ossoff’s biggest donors aren’t in Georgia. His California and New York donors know exactly what they’re funding: a senator who will push their socialist agenda in Washington.”
Despite Collins’s hits, Ossoff’s campaign has touted its support across Georgia, highlighting that the campaign has received donations from nearly all 159 counties in the state. Collins’s campaign said they received donations from all 159 counties in Q2.
“The Ossoff campaign is building unstoppable grassroots momentum to push back against Republican dark money, power our massive and winning coalition over the next four months, and resoundingly defeat Trump loyalist Mike Collins at the ballot box come November,” Ossoff campaign manager Ellen Foster said in a mid-July statement.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to Ossoff’s campaign for comment.
Ossoff has raised his national profile throughout the past several years, as pundits eye him as a possible 2028 candidate. An Emerson College poll released Thursday found that 13% of surveyed Democratic voters would cast their ballots for the first-term Senator.
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Ossoff has led Collins by single digits in most polling on the general election matchup, except for one Fox News-sponsored poll that had Ossoff up by 13 points.
Despite the Peach State currently having two Democratic Senators, the state went for President Donald Trump in 2024 by a 2.2-point margin.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
