Just weeks into Georgia‘s general election, Republicans are confronting mounting concerns that Senate nominee Rep. Mike Collins‘s (R-GA) steady stream of controversies is jeopardizing one of the party’s best opportunities to flip a Senate seat and unseat Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA).
From a House ethics investigation involving a former chief of staff to repeated staffing upheaval and now a fresh controversy involving his son-in-law, Collins has entered the general election confronting a litany of distractions that some Republicans fear are overshadowing the campaign against Ossoff.
Collins has cycled through three chiefs of staff in roughly the past year, with two departures tied to separate controversies. His first chief of staff, Brandon Phillips, became the subject of a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations that Collins’s office improperly used taxpayer funds by performing campaign work while on the congressional payroll and arranging a paid internship for his girlfriend despite little or no work being performed. Collins has dismissed the allegations as a “nothing burger.”
Phillips later departed after the campaign’s social media account published a vulgar post targeting the wife of a strategist for Republican rival Derek Dooley. His successor, Kip Talley, also drew scrutiny after Slate reported he told friends he intended to use “the levers of the legislative branch” to help secure the release of a Holocaust denier from prison.
Most recently, CNN reported that Collins’s son-in-law, David Alan Scheer II, shared posts supporting the white nationalist group Patriot Front, circulated Nazi imagery, called for the deportation of Muslims, and posted antisemitic messages targeting Jews.
Together, the controversies have fueled concern among some Republicans that Collins has spent more time answering questions about his campaign than defining himself against Ossoff.
“It’s another in a series,” said a GOP political strategist familiar with Georgia races who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “I don’t know how bad this one thing is, but the series of missteps is piling up.”
The strategist said Collins was already facing an uphill battle against an incumbent with a formidable fundraising advantage.
“It was always going to be an uphill battle. I mean, look at what Jon Ossoff is raising,” the strategist said. “But I do think putting forth a walking scandal machine was probably a problem.”
Another Georgia Republican operative said concern has been building for months.
“I think many of us have been concerned about the drip-drip-drip associated with Mike Collins and his campaign,” the operative said. “Is any of this disqualifying on its own? No. But he’s clearly a flawed candidate and facing a strong Democratic incumbent in a midterm election and I think that’s what makes us worried.”
The anxiety has increasingly spilled into public view. Veteran Republican activist Jay Wells recently told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Collins’s candidacy was “even worse than I could have imagined” and predicted he would lose by a wider margin than Republican Herschel Walker’s defeat to Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) in 2022. Even Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA), who finished third in the Republican primary, acknowledged on SiriusXM that Collins was “way behind” and warned his struggles could become “a drag at the top of the ticket” for Republicans.
The concerns come as Collins begins the general election facing significant headwinds. Early polling shows him trailing Ossoff, while the Democratic incumbent has amassed a substantial fundraising advantage, fueling doubts among some Republicans about the party’s ability to flip one of their top Senate targets.
Even so, national Republicans are signaling they have no intention of writing off Georgia. The Senate Leadership Fund has already reserved $44 million for the race, underscoring the party’s commitment to defeating Ossoff. President Donald Trump is set to campaign with Collins at Wheeler High School in Cobb County this week, marking their first public appearance together since Collins won the Republican nomination.
“Jon Ossoff is the most vulnerable Democrat Senator on the map,” National Republican Senatorial Committee regional press secretary Nick Puglia said in a statement. “While Ossoff uses Georgia as a stage for his personal ambitions, Mike Collins is delivering for hardworking Georgians and running to win.”
Asked about the mounting controversies surrounding Collins, a campaign spokesman did not offer any additional comment but pointed to a previous statement responding to the CNN report.
“Rep. Collins has always condemned all forms of antisemitism and always will regardless of the source,” the spokesman said. “Collins’ lifelong support for Israel and the Jewish people is guided by his personal beliefs and backed by his consistent voting record.”
Israel has also become one of the defining issues in the race. Collins has been one of Congress’s strongest supporters of Israel, while Ossoff has drawn criticism from some pro-Israel groups after voting to block some offensive weapons sales over concerns about the war in Gaza, even as he has continued to support defensive military aid.
“The United States must continue to support the Israeli people, who face the persistent threat of rocket and missile attack and have been subjected to intense aerial bombardment from Iran, Lebanon, and Yemen,” Ossoff wrote in July 2025.
Ossoff’s first vote to block a weapons sale in November 2024 prompted an open letter signed by Georgia synagogues, Jewish schools, the local Anti-Defamation League chapter, and other Jewish organizations criticizing the move. The vote also made him the target of AIPAC television ads attacking senators who opposed the weapons transfers.
Democrats have sought to capitalize on the latest controversy involving Collins. The Democratic Party of Georgia hosted a press call featuring Jewish voters who argued the revelations raised serious questions about Collins’s judgment. Larry Auerbach, an Atlanta retiree, said Collins’s record of supporting Israel did little to ease his concerns.
“It does nothing to make my granddaughters safer when they go to religious school,” Auerbach said, calling the rhetoric described in the report a “real danger.”
Ossoff has also sought to keep attention on the latest controversy. Asked about the CNN report by the Washington Examiner, the senator questioned whether Collins, his businesses, or his congressional office had employed Scheer and whether Scheer remained on Collins’s property.
MIKE COLLINS’S SON-IN-LAW POSTED WHITE NATIONALIST AND ANTISEMITIC STATEMENTS
“Has Mike Collins, or his companies, or his office been paying this neo-Nazi?” Ossoff asked. “Is the neo-Nazi still based on Mike Collins’s property? And will Mike Collins apologize for his and his office’s ties to neo-Nazi ideology and notorious white supremacists?”
When asked whether Collins should step aside, Ossoff instead turned the question toward Senate Republicans.
“Do Republican senators endorse a man like this?” he said. “They should all be asked.”
Continue reading...
[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
