Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff (D) confronted Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) over his social media posts and ties to white nationalists during a heated Senate debate on Thursday, accusing his Republican rival of hiring “half the Third Reich” to staff his congressional office.
“Mike Collins has brought dishonor to our state through his personal bigotry and his widely documented ties to white nationalists,” Ossoff said in an opening statement.
Later, while answering a question on data centers, Ossoff took a jibe at Collins for hiring “half the Third Reich,” apparently referring to the congressman’s history of employing aides with extreme views.
According to a CNN investigation, Collins’ son-in-law, David Alan Scheer II, is “a pro-White nationalist and social media influencer with a track record of sharing antisemitic material and Nazi imagery in comments across the internet.”
The Washington Post also reported that a former Collins staffer had posted images of a swastika and a photo of himself in Ku Klux Klan robes on X. The former staffer claimed that the lawmaker did not know about the personal X account, and Collins later denounced the posts.
Separately, The Daily Beast found that at least two people involved with Collins’ campaign have ties to a far-right group founded by a former Ku Klux Klan leader. The Collins campaign has sought to downplay the report, saying the two were unpaid volunteers and that it was unaware of their connection to the group, according to The New York Times.
“I’ve condemned racism, anti-Semitism, hate. I don’t care where the source is,” Collins said in response to a question about his son-in-law, who is featured in family photographs on his campaign website and social media. “It’s wrong. We have no place in this world for that.”
Ossoff shot back, “Imagine running for the U.S. Senate while neo-Nazi propaganda is disseminated to an audience of millions from your home. That’s Mike Collins. And it’s not just those around him. Mike Collins himself has amplified neo-Nazi propaganda online.”
Ossoff criticized Collins for social media statements that the lawmaker has shared, which have been “called racist and antisemitic,” per The Washington Post. (Collins has denied these allegations.)
“If John Lewis were marching today from Selma to Montgomery, Mike Collins would be grabbing a billy club,” Ossoff said while responding to a question about voting rights. In another charged debate moment, Ossoff spoke plainly: “Mike Collins is a bigot.”
Collins blasted Ossoff’s opposition to the SAVE Act, which voting rights advocates say could potentially disenfranchise millions of people.
“We live in the best country in the world and there’s no reason that we shouldn’t have the most secure elections in the world,” Collins said. “Jon Ossoff has voted against the SAVE Act numerous times.”