While his campaign remains mired in charges of racism and controversy, Republican U.S. Senate nominee Mike Collins is actively recruiting Black conservatives to defeat incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.
Saturday, leaders of the Georgia Black Republican Council rallied behind the two-term U.S. representative from Jackson in one of the nation’s most hotly contested midterm elections. An AARP poll released in July showed Ossoff with a 9 percentage point lead over Collins (52% to 43%).
The Collins campaign’s push for increased Black support comes as questions about a member of his family’s white nationalist views — and the candidate’s own social media history — continue to generate negative headlines.
November’s race could decide the balance of power between Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Senate and stop President Donald Trump from carrying out a legislative agenda many perceive to be anti-Black.
Camilla Moore, head of the GBRC, made the stakes clear during Saturday’s invite-only Collins campaign address at Louisiana Bistreaux in East Point.
She noted a roughly 1 percent increase in Black support in 2024 was enough to help Trump and other GOP statewide office candidates win in Georgia after the president lost the state four years prior, when he received about 11% of the Black vote.
She said it will take more Black support for Collins to beat Ossoff in November.
“We have to do 15% this time around, and so we’re going to have to work hard,” Moore said during the meeting.
Collins’ staff declined interview requests before and during Saturday’s gathering, where he issued a call to action to Black supporters, asking them to volunteer for his campaign team.
“We need help,” he acknowledged to the crowd of about 100 Black conservatives.
Trump made clear during his July 22 visit to Marietta that helping Collins defeat Ossoff is a top priority. Collins’ close alliance with the president has cost him support with some Black Republicans, including Black conservative radio host Shelley Wynter, who endorsed Ossoff in June.
Wynter told Capital B Atlanta in July that he doesn’t think Ossoff has done anything that merits “being fired,” and wants a senator who will not give Trump a “rubber stamp” on his policies.
“I don’t want someone who’s running on going to Washington to just do whatever the president wants them to do,” Wynter said. “I want my senators to go there and think through issues and and be able to say, ‘No, I don’t agree with that.’”
Former Republican U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake also endorsed Ossoff, noting in an interview with The Atlanta-Journal Constitution that “character matters.”
Critics call out monkey chants and white nationalist ties
The Georgia NAACP called for an ethics investigation into Collins in 2024 after he reposted a video on X showing a Black woman being heckled with monkey chants by white students at the University of Mississippi.
“Ole Miss taking care of business,” Collins wrote on X in May 2024.
Collins released a statement shortly after the controversy erupted saying he didn’t believe the student doing monkey chants on camera was the “focal point” of the video.
“I recognize that there certainly seems to be potentially inappropriate behavior that none of us should seek to glorify,” he said.
Collins’ most-recent scandal centers on anti-Black and anti-Semitic views echoed by his son-in-law, David Alan Scheer II, who is married to Collins’ daughter. A CNN report released in July revealed Scheer is a pro-white nationalist social media influencer who has shared Instagram posts promoting the hate group known as Patriot Front.
Last November, Scheer made derogatory remarks about Black Americans receiving reparations during an appearance on The Wright Wing podcast.
“If you look at how many Black people have been on welfare and EBT and food stamps, it’s like, actually they owe us like $2 trillion,” Scheer said during the show. “That whole 40 acres and a mule thing meant ‘y’all owe us $2 trillion now.’”
Images of Scheer in family photos with Collins were removed from his campaign website. Collins addressed the issue Monday after avoiding press questions about it for weeks. He also clarified reports about whether Scheer ever had a role on his campaign team.
“I’ve repeatedly said nobody speaks for me; I only speak for myself,” Collins told Atlanta News First, adding that Scheer, “has had no role in my campaign whatsoever.”
“I don’t believe or support those views and I have always condemned racism and antisemitism regardless of the source,” Collins added.
Ossoff has slammed Collins’ previously for appearing to avoid answering questions about his son-in-law.
“Congressman Mike Collins is a known bigot who has no business serving in either chamber of the United States Congress,” Ossoff told Capital B Atlanta in late July.
Showcasing Black support
The GBRC notified its members on July 24 that the Collins campaign was looking for Black conservatives to star in a new TV commercial. Moore said the recently filmed ad is designed to showcase the diversity of Collins supporters.
“He said it was important to show within this commercial that he represents all Georgians, and any ethnic group that’s out there,” Moore told Capital B Atlanta.
A Collins campaign spokesperson declined to confirm or deny reports about the ad.
Black Republicans who attended Saturday’s event told Capital B Atlanta they support Collins because they support the Republican Party.
“We want to definitely keep our state conservative,” said Kevin Davidson, a branding consultant from Fayetteville. “We want to make sure that we have great representation in the Senate, House, and all over locally.”
Collins’ supporters have praised his strong stance against illegal immigration and his success getting the Laken Riley Act signed into law. The law is named after Georgia murder victim Laken Riley, who was killed by an undocumented Venezuelan immigrant in February 2024.
Some acknowledged his staunch support of Trump and his policies, including the war in Iran, may pose a problem for Collins in November.
The many controversies swirling around the candidate are troubling for GBRC board member Lisa Babbage, but she doesn’t blame Collins for the actions of his family.
“I’m not faulting Mike for what his kid said,” Babbage said. “Hopefully, they had a conversation because you know if my kid posted that, I would have a conversation with them and hope that they would correct it in some way, shape, or form.”
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