Republican Rep. Mike Collins launched his campaign Monday for the U.S. Senate, setting up a high-stakes Republican primary in Georgia with the ultimate goal of unseating Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff in 2026.
The race is shaping up to be a cliffhanger. Whoever secures the Republican nomination will likely face off against Ossoff, who is running for his second term in the battleground state that President Donald Trump won in 2024.
“Jon Ossoff does not represent Georgia’s values and has attacked our states’ best interests at every opportunity. He’s voted to raise taxes on Georgia families, supercharge inflation, open our southern border, and allow men to play in women’s sports,” Collins said in a statement.
“This is Georgia’s moment. This is the people’s time to take back control of this Senate seat, deliver on President Trump’s America First agenda, and kick Jon Ossoff to the curb—and together, that’s exactly what we will do next November,” the Georgia congressman continued.
Fellow Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter has also announced his bid for the Republican nomination. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has declined to run for the Senate seat, as has Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
Collins is currently serving his second term in the House of Representatives where he has had several legislative victories.
He is perhaps most well known for being the House sponsor of the Laken Riley Act. That legislation was created in response to the murder of Laken Riley, an Augusta University nursing student, by an illegal alien who had previously been arrested and subsequently released for nonviolent offenses.
The act, which is now law, directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement to arrest and detain illegal aliens charged with theft, assaulting a police officer, or other crimes resulting in death or serious bodily injury. Ossoff was one of the 12 Senate Democrats who voted for the legislation.
Collins also had his TRANQ Act signed into law by then-President Joe Biden in 2023. That legislation directed the National Institute of Standards and Technology to study xylazine and synthetic opioids, which have taken a high toll on the lives of Americans. Collins was the first freshman member of the 118th Congress to have a bill signed into law.
A Georgia native and graduate of Georgia State University, Collins founded a trucking company with his wife there that moves freight across the country and employees more than 100. Collins’ father, Mac Collins, was also a Republican legislator, having served in both the Georgia Senate and in Congress from 1993 to 2005.
