The Dispute Index

Mike Collins

Portrait of Mike Collins
United States Congress

Mike Collins is a Republican U.S. representative from Georgia's 10th Congressional District and the Republican nominee for the 2026 United States Senate election in Georgia.

CandidateAlso known as Rep. Mike CollinsWebsite (opens in a new tab)
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What DI has documented

DI has documented statements by Mike Collins on 2026 Midterm Elections, Antisemitism, and Criminal Justice Policy, among other topics. Read the quotations, original sources and related cases below.

Topics in this coverage

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Statements by Mike Collins

Portrait of Mike Collins

Mike Collins

Role at the time: U.S. representative and Republican Senate candidate from Georgia, speaking at the debate

Denied

Response to this claim

Collins improperly used public money to pay his staffer's girlfriend.

“That ethics complaint is bogus.”
Read the original text (opens in a new tab)Atlanta News First transcript of the Ossoff-Collins Senate debateFirst-segment stewardship-of-tax-dollars exchange; second-segment federal privacy question
Why we used this label

Collins denies the allegation by rejecting the complaint as bogus. His later description of it as a nothing burger also minimizes it, but the explicit denial is the clearer response to the alleged misuse.

Read statementDid Mike Collins's office improperly pay Caroline Craze as an intern?
Portrait of Mike Collins

Mike Collins

Role at the time: U.S. representative from Georgia and Republican Senate nominee, speaking at the debate

Defended or excused

Response to this claim

Collins fired the people around him whose conduct drew scrutiny once problems came to light.

“You know, Rick, that’s my family. That’s the craziness that Jon Ossoff has been spewing out there. I actually had a crazy person get put in jail this weekend, because he not only wanted to kill my son-in-law, but he wanted to kill me. And you’re exactly right. I’ve got a daughter and grandkids there, as well as my wife. I’ve condemned racism, anti-Semitism, hate. I don’t care where the source is. And I tell him that, too. It’s wrong. We have no place in this world for that. But I’ve never heard him say a word about his DSA pick up there, Abdul El Saeed, Hassan Piker. How about Reid Hoffman? None of those. He doesn’t denounce anybody or anything or condemn them, because he’s part of them. But yet he wants to take that and spew that on me. That’s not me. When I had things happen, I’m a businessman. I fired them. I got rid of them. Don’t need them.”
Read the original text (opens in a new tab)Atlanta News First transcript of the October 8 Georgia Senate debate, son-in-law questionModerator's question to Collins about his son-in-law and staff, Collins's 60-second answer and Ossoff's 30-second reply
Why we used this label

Relative to Collins's staffing and associations as Ossoff described them, Collins rejects the charge as craziness and defends his handling of the people around him, saying he fired them. He condemns racism and antisemitism in general but does not criticize his own hiring or associations, so the response defends the conduct at issue rather than condemning it.

Read statementDid Mike Collins hire aides with white nationalist ties, as Jon Ossoff claimed?
Portrait of Mike Collins

Mike Collins

Role at the time: Mike Collins U.S. Senate campaign, through spokesperson Meyer Siegfried

Challenged the characterization

Statement summary

Responding to a report that two county convoy captains had held leadership roles in American Patriots USA, a group founded by a former Ku Klux Klan leader, the Collins campaign said it had not known of their past associations and that their views do not represent Collins.

“The past associations of these individuals was not known to the campaign, and these views do not represent Mike Collins or the more than 800 Convoy Captains around the state that want leaders who will deliver a prosperous, safer, and more affordable Georgia.”
Open source (opens in a new tab)Report: Collins campaign leaders tied to group founded by former KKK leaderCollins campaign statement and Ossoff statement
Why we used this label

Relative to Collins's associations as Ossoff characterized them, the campaign says the organizers' past associations were not known to it and that their views do not represent Collins. It distances Collins from the organizers' views rather than defending them, disputing that the appointments reflect his own views, so we used challenges the characterization.

Read statementDid Mike Collins hire aides with white nationalist ties, as Jon Ossoff claimed?
Portrait of Mike Collins

Mike Collins

Role at the time: U.S. Representative from Georgia and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate

Defended or excused

Statement summary

Georgia Republican Senate candidate Rep. Mike Collins was asked at a campaign event with Sen. John Thune about the idea, which the questioner said some in the administration have floated, of federal troops at sites in some precinct areas. He said the last thing "we" want is for people to lack confidence in their elections and not show up, and that if that is something the administration decides it needs to look at, that is fine with him.

“The last thing we want is for people to not have confidence in their elections and not show up. So … if that's something that they decide that they need to look at, then that's fine with me”
Read the original post (opens in a new tab)Aaron Rupar post of Rep. Mike Collins's answer on federal troops at polling places · Aaron RuparVideo clip of about 35 seconds, posted September 27, 2026 at 15:25 UTC; the answer runs from about 0:15 to 0:32
Why we used this label

The case asks whether ICE and other armed federal agents should be allowed at or near polling places, and records responses to the administration's stated or threatened use of them. Collins was asked about federal troops at sites in some precinct areas rather than about ICE, and we recorded the answer because it addresses armed federal personnel at voting sites. He said that if the administration decides it needs to look at the idea, that is fine with him, so we labeled it Defended or excused.

Read statementShould ICE and other armed federal agents be allowed at or near polling places in the 2026 election?
Portrait of Mike Collins

Mike Collins

Role at the time: U.S. Representative, Georgia 10th district

Defended or excused

Statement summary

Mike Collins voted Nay on H.Con.Res. 93, the House resolution directing the President to remove U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities with Iran.

“On Agreeing to the Resolution: Directing the President, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities with Iran.”
Read the official statement (opens in a new tab)U.S. House Roll Call Vote 307: H.Con.Res. 93, Iran War Powers Resolution (agreed to, 220-204)
Why we used this label

A nay vote opposed the resolution directing the removal of U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities with Iran, allowing U.S. military operations in the war to continue.

Read statementDo they support the war in Iran?
Portrait of Mike Collins

Mike Collins

Role at the time: Campaign spokesperson for Mike Collins

Challenged the characterization

Statement summary

Collins campaign spokesperson Meyer Siegfried told PolitiFact that Collins was not talking about taking away earned Social Security benefits.

“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 the official statement (opens in a new tab)Did Mike Collins tell older Americans to ‘get off of Social Security’? Ossoff’s ad omits context · PolitiFactRating and “Our ruling” section; the sourcing list naming both Ossoff ads.
Why we used this label

Siegfried directly disputes the ad's characterization of Collins's position, consistent with how the campaign's earlier statement in this case was classified.

Read statementDid Jon Ossoff’s Social Security ad fairly represent Mike Collins’s radio interview?
Portrait of Mike Collins

Mike Collins

Role at the time: Mike Collins U.S. Senate campaign, through spokesperson Sam Densmore

Challenged the characterization

Statement summary

The Collins campaign said the Social Security reference was a mistake, that he meant Medicaid, and that the Ossoff ad intentionally truncated the interview to mislead voters.

“Rep. Collins misspoke”
Open source (opens in a new tab)FactCheck.org review of Ossoff’s Social Security advertisement and campaign responsesOssoff advertisement, full radio quotation, and campaign responses
Why we used this label

The campaign directly contests the ad’s interpretation and says the excerpt omits crucial context.

Read statementDid Jon Ossoff’s Social Security ad fairly represent Mike Collins’s radio interview?
Portrait of Mike Collins

Mike Collins

Role at the time: U.S. representative from Georgia and Republican Senate nominee, speaking to reporters at the Republican Jewish Coalition leadership summit in Las Vegas

Challenged the characterization

Response to this claim

The former staffers' objectionable views and activity came after they had left Collins's team.

“Those staffers — those views are abhorrent, and they don’t represent my values ... this was after they were on my team and gone ... I can’t see into the future, but regardless I still don’t agree with them, period ... We can vet all day long, but what happens when they leave and they go out into the future — that’s a different question. But I certainly don’t want people around me like that.”
Open source (opens in a new tab)Rep. Mike Collins calls former staffers' antisemitic views 'abhorrent,' offers no vetting changesCollins's remarks to reporters at the Republican Jewish Coalition leadership summit in Las Vegas
Why we used this label

Relative to Collins's staffing and associations as Ossoff characterized them, Collins condemns his former staffers' views as abhorrent but disputes that he hired people who held them, saying their activity came after they had left his team. He disputes how his hiring is described rather than defending the views, so we used challenges the characterization.

Read statementDid Mike Collins hire aides with white nationalist ties, as Jon Ossoff claimed?
Older statements

A participant is a subject of the case. A speaker has a statement documented in it. A commentator has an opinion or editorial documented in it.

Case

Do they support the war in Iran?

Relationship to this case: Speaker

An issue tracker recording where members of Congress and 2026 midterm candidates stand on the unauthorized Iran war, based on their votes on war-powers resolutions, campaign statements, and public remarks.

Iran WarU.S. PoliticsUpdated