Exclusive — Rep. Mike Collins Appeals to Voters in Small Georgia Farm Town Ahead of GOP Senate Primary: ‘Put the Right Republican Against Jon Ossoff’

At the Old Post Office situated in a charming corner of downtown Bainbridge, a growing rural farm town in southwestern Georgia, Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) made his pitch for U.S. Senate to a small group of residents who showed up early in the morning to hear him out.

The Wednesday event was one of Collins’ stops on his “Big Rig Roadshow” statewide tour ahead of the Republican U.S. Senate primary on May 19 — part of a grassroots strategy the congressman credits to his significant lead in polling, despite his GOP competitors massively outspending him.

Collins, who currently represents Georgia’s 10th congressional district and owns his own trucking company, is up against Gov. Brian Kemp (R)-endorsed Derek Dooley, a first-time candidate, former University of Tennessee football coach, and lawyer, and Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA), a pharmacist and longtime GOP lawmaker representing the state’s 1st congressional district. Republicans are vying to snag the seat of Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), who was first elected in 2021 and has been dubbed the “most vulnerable” Democrat up for reelection.

“What is our mission? Our mission is to make sure that we put a Republican in that seat. Someone that actually reflects the values of the state and the people of this state,” Collins said to Bainbridge residents who gathered in the elegant, historic venue. 

“Right now we’ve got a primary coming up, and not only do we need to put a Republican in the seat, but to win the state of Georgia, you need to have the right Republican. You have to make sure you put the right Republican up against Jon Ossoff in the state of Georgia,” he continued, before pitching himself as a MAGA Republican compared to his opponents and slamming Ossoff as a California and New York-backed radical. 

Collins touted his trucking background and family life and pitched himself as a “conservative workhorse.” He also talked about some of his achievements, including getting the bipartisan Laken Riley Act passed, a piece of legislation named after a nursing student in his district who was murdered by an illegal alien released into the U.S. by the Biden administration. Collins has previously said the legislation has “helped remove over 20,000 illegal criminal thugs from our streets.”

“I was going door to door talking to Democrats,” Collins said of his effort to retain bipartisan support for the bill. “You know, I even had Democrats say, ‘Mike, I’ve never seen a Republican in my office pushing his own legislation.’ But I also had Democrats like Jon Ossoff, and when I went and talked with Ossoff … he never lifted a finger, he never said a word. He never helped pass that piece of legislation.” 

RELATED: Exclusive — Rep. Mike Collins: Democrats Like Jon Ossoff “Don’t Care About Collateral Damage” of Illegal Immigration

“I just told you how successful it was. The little bill was three to four pages long. He had every opportunity to help his constituents, my constituents, and make sure that another Georgian doesn’t lose their lives to an illegal alien. But he didn’t. step up,” he added. 

“Come January next year … I’m going to take my own chair, and I’m gonna throw it overtop of my old desk up there, and I’m just gonna slide it across and set up shop on the other side,” he went on to say. “I’m going to get over there, pull my pink slip out of my pocket, and I’m going to hand it to Jon Ossoff and tell him he’s fired. He probably wouldn’t know what a pink slip is but we’re going to tell him. But I would love to have y’all’s help.” 

Residents in attendance expressed concerns over the economy, particularly economic pressures on farmers, as well as illegal immigration, the growing mental health crisis, and abortion.

 “Inflation — that’s the biggest thing right now,” said Marquita Harris, a council person for the nonpartisan Bainbridge City Council. “Inflation prices, food prices specifically — I have a lot of farmers in this area, as well as people on fixed and moderate incomes.” 

“I think a lot of people are looking for just some relief and some answers,” she told Breitbart News in an interview before the event. “You know, when are the prices going to stop rising, and what can we do on the domestic side to contribute to that?” 

She added that “people in Bainbridge are always hopeful,” but “we also know that there’s a lot of work that has to be done.”

Attendee Paul Zock, a devout Catholic who has been a Georgia resident since 1994, told Breitbart News he is a single-issue voter” on the issue of abortion and wants to see Republicans doing more to ensure Planned Parenthood is defunded. 

RELATED: Planned Parenthood Report Shows Record Number of Babies Killed in Abortions

“In my circle, being Catholic … one of our basic tenets is the pro-life issue, and a lot of people I know are one-issue voters — maybe not as much as I am, because to me, you can’t have liberty in the pursuit of happiness unless you have life first. So that’s the main issue, and all the other things are just adults arguing, as far as I’m concerned,” Zock said.

“We have to protect the voiceless. But don’t think that politicians of either party are fighting for that as much as they should. They get caught up in other issues of the day, the economy, the war, or whatever it is. Those are all important issues, but not as important as pro-life. I don’t think that they’re as focused because I think a lot of people think we won the battle with the Roe v. Wade being overturned, but the battle’s just beginning. I don’t think that we’re doing enough,” he said, noting that some pro-life voters may become disillusioned by inaction. 

In a short interview after the event, Rep. Collins told Breitbart News the issues he has heard about most on his tour across Georgia’s 159 counties are financial pressures on farmers and young Americans struggling to attain the American dream.

“…[F]armers are tired of being pushed around. They just want a level playing field — that’s what I hear that over and over,” he said, pointing to EPA regulations and federal emissions mandates that crush the industry. “…They know how to make money, but it is just the fact that every time they turn around the federal government is interfering in their business.”

“What I hear everywhere else, especially from our young people, [is] no opportunities. It’s not affordable. [They] can’t buy a house. Interest rates are crazy … Things like that [Big Beautiful Bill] that we passed last year are going to help these people, give them tax cuts, [and] put money back in their pockets,” he said. 

“But the other part of the equation … is we look at what crushed them in the first place. They don’t have the opportunities I had, and it’s because of regulations and taxes that pushed businesses overseas and ran ’em off from our country,” Collins continued. “And so now that we’re bringing them back and we’re setting up the taxes where these businesses come back, we’re getting regulations off their backs. The other big issue out there is permitting … Take a house, for instance, you realize that around 40 percent of the purchase price of a house is taxes, regulations, and permits, and that’s driven the price-side of the range for most young people. And that’s what they want: they want to be able to chase their version of the American dream, kind like what I did. Heck, I built my first house at the age of 22, started my first business before I was 25. That’s all they want is the opportunity.”

RealClear Polling average shows Collins leading Carter by 11.5 points and shows Ossoff leading Collins by a narrow 2.8 points in the general election. The GOP primary is on May 19 — if any candidate does not receive more than 50 percent of the votes, the top two contenders will compete in a runoff race before the winner challenges Ossoff in November.

Trump made an early endorsement in the 2026 Georgia gubernatorial race for Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, but he has yet to endorse a candidate in the Senate race. The 45th and 47th president did note on October 15 that “some very good people are running.”

“And I understand that I haven’t made a decision yet,” Trump said at the time. “But I’m following that race very carefully.”

“It’s very important for Georgia to get a real senator because the senator they have now is a horrible senator,” Trump said of incumbent Sen. Ossoff. “Those people are great and they deserve a good senator because the man they have now is a weak, ineffective person.”

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.