Don’t force Mike Collins down my throat. I’m voting for all other Republicans.

Last week, in language I should not repeat in a prestigious publication, I announced I had decided to leave one line blank on my ballot this year. I am tired of the parties continually shoving bad candidates down our throats, telling us we have to save the country from the other side, and then everything keeps getting worse.

For 20 years, I have heard that every election is the last election and that conservatives must hold their noses, close their eyes, and pull the lever or lose the country. I used to say it myself. America is still here. The candidates, however, keep getting worse, and every cycle we are told to debase ourselves a little further to support them, or else.

There are great Republicans on the ballot in Georgia this year, and I will gladly vote for them. Rick Jackson for governor, Greg Dolezal for lieutenant governor, Tim Fleming for secretary of state, Brian Strickland for attorney general, John King for insurance commissioner, Tyler Harper for agricultural commissioner, Richard Woods for state schools superintendent, Bárbara Rivera Holmes for labor commissioner, Fitz Johnson for public service commissioner, Josh Tolbert for PSC commissioner and Austin Scott for Congress all have my vote.

Last month, I wrote that Jackson’s money is giving Georgia Republicans the steam to push against the headwinds blowing out of Washington. He has made clear he is running for the whole team of state candidates, and that team deserves Republican votes.

We cannot give proponents of hatred access to power

Unfortunately, Mike Collins is a different matter. Earlier this month, I wrote in this space that he does not seem to notice or care about the company he keeps. Two of his county “convoy captains” held leadership roles in American Patriots USA, a group founded by former Klan leader Chester Doles — a group Collins himself called a “hate organization” in 2019. His son-in-law, who lives on his property and was featured on the campaign website, has shared Nazi imagery and told a commenter there is nothing wrong with white nationalism.

A former intern who later worked for his leadership PAC posted a photo of himself in Klan robes. A chief of staff in his House office sat on a group chat trying to get a Holocaust denier out of jail.

I do not know where Collins stands on these issues, but I do know he hires a lot of people with the same despicable worldview. A United States senator does not just cast votes. He hires a staff, gives them business cards with his name on them, and grants them access to the halls of power in Washington, from which they can move up.

I am more and more alarmed at the growing antisemitism and racialism of both parties and Collins’ hiring and protection of deeply problematic people through his entire tenure in Washington is an awfully big red flag. Frankly, a vote for Collins is a vote to hand white supremacists, racists and Holocaust deniers access to power. U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is already there with enough problems. But, to my knowledge, he has no Holocaust deniers and defenders of racist groups or members of white nationalist groups on his staff.

Unfortunately, Mike Collins is a different matter. Earlier this month, I wrote in this space that he does not seem to notice or care about the company he keeps. Two of his county “convoy captains” held leadership roles in American Patriots USA, a group founded by former Klan leader Chester Doles — a group Collins himself called a “hate organization” in 2019. His son-in-law, who lives on his property and was featured on the campaign website, has shared Nazi imagery and told a commenter there is nothing wrong with white nationalism.

A former intern who later worked for his leadership PAC posted a photo of himself in Klan robes. A chief of staff in his House office sat on a group chat trying to get a Holocaust denier out of jail.

I do not know where Collins stands on these issues, but I do know he hires a lot of people with the same despicable worldview. A United States senator does not just cast votes. He hires a staff, gives them business cards with his name on them, and grants them access to the halls of power in Washington, from which they can move up.

I am more and more alarmed at the growing antisemitism and racialism of both parties and Collins’ hiring and protection of deeply problematic people through his entire tenure in Washington is an awfully big red flag. Frankly, a vote for Collins is a vote to hand white supremacists, racists and Holocaust deniers access to power. U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is already there with enough problems. But, to my knowledge, he has no Holocaust deniers and defenders of racist groups or members of white nationalist groups on his staff.

Some will tell me that leaving the line blank is a vote for Ossoff. It is not. I disagree with Ossoff on most of what matters to me, and he will not get my vote. Others will say I am costing Republicans a Senate seat. Last month, I could hardly find a knowledgeable Republican who thought Collins could win. His polling has not gotten better.

Republicans should ask why the party keeps nominating candidates like Collins rather than blame the voters who will not eat what he is serving. We now have two election cycles of bad GOP nominees. In 2022, I accurately said Herschel Walker would not win with his baggage. It is déjà vu all over again.

Republicans need to be offered the whole menu

In 2000, 43rd President George W. Bush carried Florida by 537 votes, and his team concluded that millions of evangelicals had stayed home. Bush’s team spent the next four years, through policy choices, winning those voters back. Skipping one race on an otherwise full ballot sends a very strong message. Someone will notice that a Republican voter marked every Republican name but one. I want them to notice.

When a restaurant’s menu flops, the owner does not blame the customers. He looks at the plates coming back half-eaten and the declining revenue. He changes the menu because the alternative is going out of business. The parties are no different. They keep serving rotten sandwiches because we keep eating them. They will change what they serve only when enough customers push the plate back.

Jesus asked what it profits a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul. Republicans are not even being offered the whole world. We are being asked to trade a piece of our souls for one Senate seat, and I am not willing to make that trade.