by Maya Homan, Georgia Recorder, [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]
July 23, 2026
Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is calling on his rival in Georgia’s U.S. Senate race, Republican Congressman Mike Collins, to be more transparent about the role a white nationalist and social media influencer allegedly had in his trucking business.
In a press briefing Thursday, Ossoff argued that Collins’ silence on the issue is “disqualifying” for a candidate seeking higher office.
Last week, CNN reported that Collins’ son-in-law, David Alan Scheer II, had a history of amplifying white supremacist social media accounts and echoing antisemitic tropes online.
In one video posted to his YouTube channel, Scheer references antisemitic stereotypes that Jewish people control banks and the media and attempted to downplay the severity of the Holocaust.
Scheer also appeared in family photos on Collins’ campaign website, attended Collins’ election night victory party and produced videos for Collins’ trucking company, CNN reported.
Ossoff, who became Georgia’s first Jewish senator when he was elected in 2021, criticized Collins’ ties to Scheer, arguing that displaying support for white nationalism clashes with Georgia values.
“I think that Georgians — regardless of our age, our race, our faith or our political persuasion — do not want hateful and bigoted people linked to neo-Nazism and white supremacists representing us in the United States House of Representatives or the United States Senate,” Ossoff said.
Collins has not publicly addressed the allegations, and his campaign team declined to respond to specific questions about whether he condemned Scheer’s activity or whether his congressional office or campaign had ever paid his son-in-law. Scheer did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
In a phone call, Collins’ trucking company directed the Recorder to Collins’ congressional district office.
In a statement, Collins’ deputy communications director Sam Densmore said Ossoff was “panicking” and that the inquiries were an attempt to distract voters from questions about the Democrat’s past votes.
“Instead of answering for his own record, Ossoff spent today’s press conference repeating the same tired attacks against Mike Collins,” Densmore said. “Mike Collins has always stood with the Jewish people and Israel, and condemns all forms of antisemitism, no matter the source. He will continue to focus on delivering results for Georgia.”
Ossoff, who has made anti-corruption messaging a central focus of his reelection campaign, also criticized Collins’ office over reporting from Slate that his former chief of staff attempted to use his congressional position to help get a Holocaust denier out of prison.
“For a sitting member of Congress, for their office to be briefing white supremacists on efforts on behalf of a Holocaust denier should be career-ending and is certainly disqualifying for a promotion to the United States Senate,” Ossoff said.
Ossoff’s calls come in the wake of a Wednesday rally in Marietta where President Donald Trump promoted his newly launched child investment accounts alongside a slew of Republican statewide candidates. Collins was initially scheduled to attend the event, but later said he was needed in Washington D.C. to vote on legislation.
Trump also used the rally to attack Ossoff, comparing him to Pee-wee Herman, a children’s entertainment character played by the late actor Paul Reubens, during his 75-minute speech. Ossoff, who is the only Democratic senator running for reelection in a state Trump won in 2024, is seen as a top target for national Republicans.
“Jon Ossoff and the Democrat communists want to let the Marxists into power, bankrupt your families and leave you totally undefended with wide-open borders,” Trump told the crowd of roughly 3,000 attendees.
But Ossoff brushed off the remarks, criticizing Trump for his handling of the Iran war.
“We saw just in the last two weeks nearly 100 American service members wounded in action, four killed in action, and the commander in chief is making jokes at a campaign rally,” he said. “He needs to be back in Washington, attending to the nation’s business, with his foreign policy in such disarray.”
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