Collins, Ossoff trade personal insults during Georgia’s first U.S. Senate debate

(Georgia Recorder) — Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff and Republican Congressman Mike Collins came out swinging on the debate stage Thursday night, discussing topics like the economy, healthcare and data centers in between brutal insults ahead of the November election.

During an hour-long debate hosted by Atlanta News First and Atlanta-based Gray Media, Ossoff, who is facing his first re-election challenge since taking office in 2021, repeatedly hammered Collins over President Donald Trump’s tariffs, the war in Iran and a series of racist and antisemitic statements made by associates.

“Mike Collins has brought dishonor to our state through his personal bigotry and his widely documented ties to white nationalists, and he sold out Georgia in his pathetic, childlike devotion to Donald Trump, voting for the tariffs that have sent groceries soaring, voting for the healthcare cuts that have doubled your insurance premiums and voting for the war that sent diesel to its record high,” Ossoff said.

Collins, who has represented Georgia’s 10th Congressional District in the northeastern part of the state since 2023, sought to paint Ossoff as “a trust fund kid who’s never had a job in his life” and criticised him for what he characterized as not preventing a government shutdown last year and policies he called weak on the border.

“He wanted to keep the borders wide open so that we had fentanyl coming across this border,” Collins said. “No one has ever asked or held Jon Ossoff accountable for any of his votes or the reasons why. I had to write a bill to fight these synthetic drugs because he left that border open and allowed this stuff to just funnel into our country, killing these young people.”

Ossoff is the only incumbent Democratic senator up for reelection in a state Trump won in 2024, and heading into this election cycle, Republicans viewed Georgia as a good opportunity to pick up a seat and protect their Senate majority against potential losses elsewhere.

But Ossoff has maintained a steady advantage in polls and prognosticators like Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball have shifted their predictions to favor an Ossoff win. And as polling has shifted against Republicans nationwide, some in the GOP have called for resources to be moved from Georgia to other states where it could make a bigger difference. The Collins campaign denies this, pointing to million dollar-plus ad buys from Senate Republicans.

Thursday’s debate represented the candidates’ first time facing each other on the debate stage. They are set to meet again Tuesday for the Atlanta Press Club Loudermilk-Young Debate Series. Early voting also begins Tuesday.

The economy

During Thursday’s debate, the candidates were asked a series of questions by Gray Media journalists from around Georgia.

On questions of affordability, Ossoff said that if Democrats control the Senate, they will work to repeal Trump’s tariffs and end the war in Iran, which he blames for high gasoline prices.

“These tariffs are crushing our state, and we’ll repeal those tariffs, and I’d like to hear the congressman explain why he voted for them over and over and over again,” Ossoff said. “It costs more today than at any time in American history to stock your fridge, to fill up your truck, to power your home.”

Collins said Trump is keeping more money in Americans’ pockets through tax cuts and defended tariffs as working to create a level playing field with nations like China.

He put the blame for rising prices on the economic policies of former President Joe Biden.

“That Bidenomics, that Green New Deal that my opponent voted for, that’s where all this inflation came from,” Collins said. “We’ve got to continue to get back to energy independence. First thing that the Biden administration and my opponent and the Democrats did was kill the Keystone Pipeline. That alone would’ve helped keep this energy cost down.”

Healthcare

Ossoff said Democrats would work to lower healthcare costs by reversing Medicaid cuts established through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“Mike Collins and Donald Trump passed the biggest Medicaid cut in history,” Ossoff said. “A hospital in Mike Collins’ own district had to shut down its labor and delivery unit, citing those Medicaid cuts. How can a sitting congressman vote to shut down a labor and delivery unit in his own district? Delivering mothers in Mike Collins’ district now have to drive an hour to get to a labor and delivery unit while they’re in labor, when we already have a maternal mortality crisis.”

Collins said the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s rural health program added $218 million as a first-year allocation to Georgia’s rural hospitals and said the culprit for rising healthcare costs is the Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law in 2010.

“The problem started way back under Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, y’all,” he said. “I was in the private sector then. I remember that first year, my insurance going up 62%. And from that day forward, I saw our rural hospitals start to close or swap over to swing beds because they couldn’t handle the mandates that were being pushed on them. When you let the federal government take over healthcare, which is what, at the end of the day, Jon Ossoff wants to do to you, then this is what you get.”

Election security

When asked about election policy, Ossoff sought to paint Collins as an election denier

“Georgia has voter ID, and that’s good,” Ossoff said. “Mike Collins and Donald Trump, they’re still obsessed with overturning the 2020 election. Mike Collins still believes the 2020 election was stolen. Mike Collins has supported Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the election, and he wants to give your tax dollars to the violent thugs and criminals who sacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6th.”

Collins has previously said he believes the 2020 election was stolen but did not address the attack from the debate stage.

Collins criticized Ossoff for not supporting the SAVE Act, which would require that people provide proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote and show a photo ID before casting a ballot, among other provisions. The measure, which is a priority for Trump, has stalled in the Senate.

And he attempted to paint Ossoff as a hypocrite for requiring rally attendees to show their IDs.

“We live in the best country in the world, and, and there’s no reason that we shouldn’t have the most secure elections in the world,” Collins said. “There’s no reason that you shouldn’t have to show an ID to go in and vote. My goodness, Jon Ossoff requires you to show an ID to show up at his rally, but he doesn’t think you need to do that to go vote.”