NYT: “‘We have gotten more support from Senator Ossoff than any other office that we’ve contacted,’ [Mayor Gail Fry] said in an interview, citing an $8.4 million federal grant he secured to replace aging natural-gas infrastructure. ‘He calls us and says, ‘What do you need?’”

Atlanta, Ga. — The New York Times is out with new reporting on the latest in a string of endorsements from Republicans who have crossed party lines to support Senator Jon Ossoff in his bid for re-election. 

The Times cites Toccoa Commissioner, former Mayor and “lifelong Republican” Gail Fry, who is backing Senator Ossoff for re-election and said, “We have gotten more support from Senator Ossoff than any other office that we’ve contacted.” 

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently detailed how Tifton Mayor Julie Smith and Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson crossed party lines to support the Senator and “praised Ossoff’s approach to constituent service and his efforts to steer federal resources to South Georgia.” Former Republican U.S. Senator Jeff Flake also endorsed Sen. Ossoff, with the AJC reporting that, according to Flake, “character, constituent work and respect for the institution outweigh their policy differences.” The AJC also reported that, citing concerns about Sen. Ossoff’s opponent, Flake acknowledged “he was troubled by the Republican’s refusal to recognize Biden’s 2020 victory.”

In recent weeks, Collins has faced scrutiny over a number of controversies, including his ties to white nationalism, which has led to growing concerns about Collins’ candidacy coming from within his own party both in-state and nationally. 

Collins’ U.S. Senate campaign has been plagued by a number of other controversies, including recent Washington Post reporting that revealed a former Collins staffer uplifting Nazi imagery and depicting himself in a costume of the Ku Klux Klan. These controversies also include his “close ties” to a neo-Nazi propagandist, and his office’s work with notorious white nationalists – such as Nick Fuentes and Richard Spencer – to try to get a Holocaust denier out of jail. Collins has also faced public outrage over his antisemitic harassment of a Jewish reporter and his praise for the viciously racist harassment with monkey sounds of a Black woman on a college campus. 

The New York Times: In Georgia, Ossoff Courts Broad Appeal With an Anti-Trump Script
By Robert Jimison | August 29, 2026

KEY EXCERPTS:

• […] In Toccoa, a city of less than 10,000 residents in the foothills of northeast Georgia, Mayor Gail Fry, a lifelong Republican who voted against Mr. Ossoff when he ran six years ago, is backing the senator.
  
• “We have gotten more support from Senator Ossoff than any other office that we’ve contacted,” she said in an interview, citing an $8.4 million federal grant he secured to replace aging natural-gas infrastructure. “He calls us and says, ‘What do you need?’”
  
• Other local Republican officials, including Mayor Scott James Matheson of Valdosta and Mayor Julie Smith of Tifton, also endorsed Mr. Ossoff.
  
• In the interview, Mr. Ossoff said that bad public service is what ushered in the Trump era and that voters would reward him for focusing on the basics.
  
• “Thousands of folks across the state have my cellphone number,” he said. “They know that I will move heaven and earth to deliver for them, no matter their politics.” […]

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