AJC: “[…] Once reporters began asking questions, the carefully planned rollout quickly shifted.”

WGXA: “[…] He soon left after reporters asked Collins to condemn widespread claims of his ties to antisemitism and white nationalism.”
 
WAGA: “Collins is trying to move past it, but it appears the controversy isn’t going away anytime soon.”

Atlanta, Ga. — Last Thursday, GOP U.S. Senate nominee Mike Collins “abruptly ended” a press conference after being pressed multiple times by multiple reporters about his refusal to answer for his ties to white nationalism. 

After Collins ran away from reporters, Senator Jon Ossoff responded and addressed members of the media, raising new questions, including whether Collins plans to “release every email, every text message, every Signal message, and every other communication between his office and his staff and these notorious white supremacists,” and whether the congressman will “apologize for his office’s documented links to some of the nation’s most notorious white supremacists.”

Collins is facing a slew of scandals related to his corruption and extensive ties to white nationalism. These scandals include revelations that Collins’ office worked with white nationalists – including Nick Fuentes – to try to get a Holocaust denier out of jail; an ongoing federal investigation into his illegal misuse of tax dollars; his antisemitic harassment of a Jewish reporter; and his praise for a young man who harassed a Black woman by making monkey sounds.

See more below on what Georgians are reading and watching after Mike Collins’ press conference was derailed by his ties to white nationalism:  

MS NOW — Morning Joe: GOP Rep. Mike Collins walks off press conference amid questions of white nationalism

• [MS NOW] Republican Senate nominee and current Congressman Mike Collins abruptly walked out of a campaign event yesterday after refusing to answer questions […]. 
  
• [MS NOW] The event on healthcare quickly shifted when reporters began pressing Collins […]. 
  
• [MS NOW] Collins first tried to pivot, saying “we fully addressed that,” before then attacking his opponent […] but when reporters continued to press Collins […] he simply walked away. […] 
  
• [MS NOW] Not great! […]

WGXA: Rep. Mike Collins Dodges Reporters’ Questions

• [WGXA] This evening, we’re hearing from Congressman Mike Collins moments before he abruptly exited a press conference. 
  
• [WGXA] This morning, Collins visited Monroe County Hospital to outline his health care priorities in Georgia as he campaigns to unseat his opponent, U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff this November, but he soon left after reporters asked Collins to condemn widespread claims of his ties to antisemitism and white nationalism.
  
• [WGXA] Not addressing the question, Collins redirected instead, raising his own questions of Jon Ossoff. Collins soon left after reporters attempted to keep focus on the original question. […]

WAGA: Senate Candidate Mike Collins Continues to Face Scrutiny

• [WAGA] In one of the nation’s most closely watched senate races, Republican challenger Mike Collins continues to face intense scrutiny over reported campaign ties to far-right extremism. Collins repeatedly deflected questions about the allegations during a campaign stop today in Monroe. […]
  
• [WAGA] […] Collins, dogged by news reports of his campaign ties to white nationalism, refused to answer reporter questions about the controversy during a news conference in Forsyth Thursday. […]
  
• [WAGA] In one of the nation’s most closely watched senate races, the Collins campaign finds itself under intense scrutiny. Collins repeatedly dodged reporters’ questions, instead touting his legislative record during his appearance at a Monroe County hospital. 
  
• [WAGA] […] Now, Collins is trying to move past it, but it appears the controversy isn’t going away anytime soon. […]

CNN: GOP Senate nominee ends press conference after questions on ties to White nationalist influencer
By: Andrew Kaczynski, Em Steck | July 30, 2026

KEY EXCERPTS:

• Republican Senate candidate Mike Collins ended a press conference Thursday after repeatedly declining to answer questions about his relationship with a son-in-law who promoted White nationalist ideology and circulated antisemitic content online, as first revealed by CNN’s KFile. […]
  
• Collins declined to answer repeated questions from reporters on Thursday, including if Scheer has done any paid work for his businesses or his campaign. 
  
• “Could you address the question regarding antisemitism?” one person interjected. 
  
• Collins continued criticizing Ossoff. As a reporter asked what role Scheer had played in Collins’ campaign, Collins said voters would “choose to get rid of” Ossoff in November.
  
• “Could you address his question, please, sir?” another reporter asked. 
  
• When Collins ended the press conference, a person asked, “You don’t want to talk about your son-in-law at all? You want to embrace him in the family? Share his views?”
   

AJC: Collins’ healthcare event derailed by questions about his son-in-law
By Greg Bluestein | July 30, 2026

KEY EXCERPTS:

• Every campaign faces an unwelcome test when controversy strikes.
  
• Address it too little and it festers. Dwell on it too much and it overwhelms the message. Republican U.S. Senate nominee Mike Collins is finding out how difficult that balancing act can be. 
  
• One of his first public appearances in weeks was supposed to showcase a familiar Republican healthcare agenda. […]
  
• But once reporters began asking questions, the carefully planned rollout quickly shifted. Nearly every shouted question centered on Collins’ response to revelations about his son-in-law, David Alan Scheer II, whose social media accounts contained white nationalist and antisemitic content, including Nazi imagery and conspiracy theories. 
  
• CNN first reported the posts, which were later independently confirmed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Collins initially tried to pivot.
  
• “We fully addressed that,” he said. […]
  
• The answer did little to satisfy the roughly dozen reporters who kept lobbing more questions about Scheer. Collins attempted to move to another topic before abruptly ending the availability after about eight minutes. […]

USA Today: Collins refuses to answer questions on possible white supremacist ties
By Irene Wright | July 31, 2026

KEY EXCERPTS: 

• There are less than 100 days until the midterm elections in Georgia, but one question plaguing Republican Senate candidate Mike Collins is unlikely to go away before voters hit the polls in November. […]
  
• Collins’ roadblocks lie outside policy debates, and are instead centered around a House ethics probe and reporting that the representative’s son-in-law is a white supremacist who may have been paid by Collins’ trucking company.
  
• It wasn’t long before he was asked about recent reports that […] Sheer, Collins and members of his staff have collaborated with members of white supremacist groups. […]
  
• Multiple reporters chimed in to ask Collins to address the question of whether he will acknowledge the white supremacist comments.[…] 
  
• “Can you address the question please?” one reporter said. […]
  
• When pushed again to talk about his relationship with Sheer, Collins abruptly left the podium and walked away from reporters.

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