FactCheck.org says the Ossoff ad took Collins's quote out of context
FactCheck.orgFact-checking project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, in an article by Eugene Kiely
FactCheck.org concluded that two Ossoff ads used a partial clip of Collins's 2025 radio interview and took his words out of context to say he wanted to push people off Social Security and back to work. It found that Collins had been arguing that tax cuts would make work more advantageous.
“In the Georgia Senate race, Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff has been running TV ads that take a sound bite from his opponent about Social Security out of context.”
Original post
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Did Jon Ossoff’s Social Security ad fairly represent Mike Collins’s radio interview?
Jon Ossoff’s campaign ran an ad using Mike Collins’s words “get off of Social Security, get back into the workforce” to say Collins wanted to push beneficiaries off Social Security. Collins’s campaign said he misspoke and meant Medicaid; Ossoff’s campaign said the ad fairly reflected Collins’s support for pressuring beneficiaries into work. The full radio interview contains the surrounding discussion of tax cuts, Medicaid, Social Security, and work incentives.
Source and context
Original post
About this source
FactCheck.org's own X article version of its September 4, 2026 review by Eugene Kiely. It carries the opening paragraphs and links to the full article on factcheck.org, which is also recorded as a source in this case.
Reporting
About this source
Reporting that identifies when the Ossoff television ad began, links the full June 2025 radio interview and ad, and records direct responses from both campaigns. It is used for the campaigns’ stated interpretations; the radio interview remains the primary record for Collins’s full wording.
Before the quotation
This is the opening sentence of FactCheck.org's September 4 review, published on its website and as an article on its X account.
After the quotation
The review quoted Collins's fuller answer, in which he said tax cuts would help people "get off of Medicaid, get off of Social Security, get back into the workforce," noted that the Collins campaign said he misspoke and meant Medicaid, and concluded that, whatever Collins meant, the campaign "took the quote out of context." It then reviewed the separate claim in both ads that Collins "voted to gut Social Security."
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The case asks whether the Ossoff advertisement fairly represented Collins's radio interview. FactCheck.org's institutional conclusion disputes the advertisement's reading of Collins's words, so we labeled it Challenged the characterization, matching the PolitiFact rating in this case. Condemned is the closer alternative but loses because the article does not go on to denounce the campaign's conduct; it sets the clip against the full interview. Evidence level: the fact-checker's own published article.
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More from this case
Read the full casePolitiFact rates the ad's claims Mostly False
PolitiFact
“Mostly False”Read statement
Collins spokesperson Meyer Siegfried disputes the ad's characterization
“He was not talking about taking earned Social Security retirement benefits away from seniors... Rep. Collins believes seniors who spent their lives paying into Social Security should receive the benefits they earned.”Read statement
Social Security Works says Collins wants seniors to keep working instead of drawing Social Security
Social Security Works
“SHAME: Mike Collins says seniors need to “get off Social Security [and] get back into the workforce””Read statement
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- The Dispute Index
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- FactCheck.org says the Ossoff ad took Collins's quote out of context
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- https://disputeindex.com/events/4838-factcheck-org-concluded-that-two-ossoff-ads-used
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The Dispute Index. "FactCheck.org says the Ossoff ad took Collins's quote out of context". First published: 2026-10-06. Last updated: 2026-10-06. https://disputeindex.com/events/4838-factcheck-org-concluded-that-two-ossoff-ads-used