Collins jumps into Georgia Senate race
Rep. Mike Collins (R) announced Monday he’s jumping into the Georgia Senate race after teasing a potential challenge to Sen. Jon Ossoff (D) last week.
Collins in his ad touted helping President Trump pass his major policy legislation and his work on the Laken Riley Act, a law that allows federal officials to detain some immigrants without legal status who have been charged with certain crimes like theft and burglary.
His ad also plays audio of Trump praising Collins, saying “Mike Collins. Mike, you were fantastic. He loves this state, and he took this very personally.”
“I don’t know who Jon Ossoff really works for, but it sure as heck isn’t Georgia,” Collins says in the roughly minutelong video.
“It’s time to send a trucker to the U.S. Senate to steamroll the radical left, deliver on President Trump’s America First agenda, and put the people of Georgia back in the driver’s seat,” concludes Collins, whose family owns a trucking company.
Collins is the son of the late Rep. Mac Collins (R-Ga.), who also sought a run for Senate in 2004 but lost in the primary to former Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.).
Georgia is one of Senate Republicans’ best pickup opportunities in 2026, and the race to take on first-term Ossoff is taking shape.
Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) is also vying for the seat, while former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley is eyeing a run. State Insurance Commissioner John King had launched a campaign to take on Ossoff but later dropped out.
Meanwhile, influential Gov. Brian Kemp (R), who declined to run for Senate, is getting behind Dooley, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution — setting up a potential clash between Kemp and Trump over their preferred picks.
The president has not yet signaled who he would endorse, but his backing would prove influential in the primary.
While the GOP primary heats up, Ossoff is shoring up his war chest. The incumbent has brought in staggering double-digit hauls over the last several fundraising quarters.
Senate Democrats knocked Mike Collins over his Senate announcement, with Maeve Coyle, a spokesperson for the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm saying in a statement, “Mike Collins is an extremist who will have to answer for his vote to spike costs and strip health care from up to 750,000 Georgians.”
“While Collins is entering an already messy and divisive primary where candidates’ race to the right will result in a deeply flawed nominee, Senator Ossoff is building a campaign that will allow him to hold this seat in 2026.”