Rep. Mike Collins teases Senate run against Ossoff in Georgia
Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) released a video on Monday teasing a potential Senate run in Georgia against Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), making him the latest Republican to consider taking on the first-term senator.
The 15-second video incorporates sound bites from news clips discussing the Georgia Senate race and Ossoff.
At one point, text across the video reads, “Who can beat Jon Ossoff?”
The video touts Collins’s ties to the president, and it includes a clip of President Trump saying Collins’s name at an event and a photo of Collins and his wife posing with the president in the Oval Office — positioning himself as being closely aligned with Trump.
The video ends with text on the screen reading “Stay tuned.”
“Tires kicked. Fueling up,” Collins wrote in a post accompanying the video.
Collins — seen as a rising star within the GOP, particularly for his work on the Laken Riley Act — is very likely to make a bid for the GOP nod to take on Ossoff next year.
Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) and Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King have launched bids, while former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley could also enter the race.
Republicans have not yet coalesced around a nominee after Gov. Brian Kemp (R) opted against running himself. Kemp's decision was a major blow to the GOP in that many political observers saw the governor as being a favorite in the race if he entered.
Still, Collins could be a formidable candidate given he defeated a Trump-backed candidate during his first run for Congress, a win that underscored his viability in a GOP primary.
He also has some staff who worked on Trump's campaign, such as Collins's chief of staff Brandon Phillips.