Mike Collins balances MAGA sales pitch with moderate voters
Today’s newsletter highlights
- Democrats and Republicans team up to block a pesticide provision.
- A partial government shutdown comes to an end.
- Hundreds gather to remember the late U.S. Rep. David Scott.
Show of force
It was U.S. Rep. Mike Collins’ signature political event of the year. It was also a test of his organizational might in the GOP race to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff.
With polls showing Collins ahead of U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter and former football coach Derek Dooley, the Jackson Republican held his annual Surf & Turf event on Saturday, turning the ticketed gathering into a show of campaign strength.
More than 600 attendees packed a lakeside camp near Covington, where golf carts with giant Collins signs ferried guests from the gravel parking lot to the convention hall. They munched on barbecue and pecan pie, washed down with sweet tea.
Inside, the crowd was heavy with hard-core Collins fans. More than half raised their hands when asked if they knew his father, the late U.S. Rep. Mac Collins. Plenty of GOP glitterati roamed the crowd amid the speechifying.
Both billionaire Rick Jackson and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, both GOP candidates for governor, glad-handed voters — although at different times. So did most of the Republican candidates for lieutenant governor and other statewide offices.
Collins has maintained his polling edge without spending significantly on TV messaging. He told reporters the crowd was a testament to his strength.
“There’s a reason I’ve been leading in every poll since I got in this thing, and it’s because the Republican Party has a MAGA base that only shows up when President Trump or a Trump candidate is on the ticket. They know that’s me,” he said.
Then Collins added something revealing. He said the race also could hinge on a second bloc of voters: Atlanta suburbanites who may not be as interested in MAGA but “just want somebody to get something done.”
That’s the Collins balancing act in a nutshell. He’s trying to run as a die-hard MAGA candidate while also aiming to soften his edges for middle-of-the-road voters Ossoff is relying upon.
Things to know
Good morning! Here are three things to know for today:
- A new AJC poll shows Keisha Lance Bottoms has a big lead in the Democratic primary for governor. But the race remains uncertain with more than a third of voters still undecided, writes Greg Bluestein.
- Georgia Republicans have set their sights on redrawing the state’s political maps for the 2028 election, and Democratic U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop’s district is a likely target, Bluestein and the AJC’s Tamar Hallerman report.
- Hundreds of people attended the late U.S. Rep. David Scott’s funeral on Saturday, remembering him as a man of faith, the AJC’s David Wickert and Bluestein report.
Pesticide provision
The Make America Healthy Again movement’s first big win in Congress was notable for what it produced on the U.S. House floor — a bipartisan coalition that was heavy on Democratic support.
While the loudest voices to strip out a pair of pro-pesticide provisions from a major farm policy bill came from Republicans, the MAHA victory would not have been possible without the votes of 207 Democrats, according to Regular Order’s Jamie Dupree.
“It’s important for Americans to know what’s in their food, and most importantly, what’s on their food,” said U.S. Rep. Clay Fuller, R-Rome, one of 73 U.S. House Republicans who voted to take out the provision.
The House voted to strip a proposal from the Farm Bill that would have made it harder for people to sue pesticide companies. The provision comes after the Bayer, the German pharmaceutical giant, has faced thousands of lawsuits related to its popular weedkiller Roundup.
But some state Republicans cautioned against reading too much into the vote.
“I want the MAHA movement to know that this has nothing to do with the actual pesticide in the jug,” said U.S. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton. “Absolutely nothing.”
Of the six Democrats who voted to keep the pesticide provision, two of them were from Georgia: U.S. Reps. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, and Hank Johnson, D-Lithonia. But Johnson said he made a mistake. “I got that vote mixed up,” he said later.
It’s worth noting a similar proposal aimed at protecting pesticide companies from lawsuits passed Georgia’s Republican-led Legislature last year. Gov. Brian Kemp signed it into law shortly after a Georgia jury awarded a $2 billion verdict against Bayer.
Poll watch
The AJC poll isn’t the only one showing a tight Republican race for governor.
The nonpartisan Democracy Defense Project released a poll today that closely echoes the AJC’s findings, with Jackson and Jones locked in a close contest at the top of the GOP field.
The DDP survey showed Jackson at 27% and Jones at 24%, followed by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger at 12% and Attorney General Chris Carr at 6%.
The DDP poll also found Collins leading the Republican race for U.S. Senate with 30%, followed by Dooley at 12% and Carter at 11%.
Beyond the horse race, the poll also found broad Republican confidence in Georgia’s election system, with 78% saying they are confident their vote will be counted fairly in 2026. Nearly 68% said states, not the federal government, should continue administering elections.
Shutdown ends
After weeks of negotiations between Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate, Congress approved legislation funding most of the Department of Homeland Security last week. President Donald Trump signed the agreement into law.
The only agencies not funded are U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol. But both of them are flush with cash already. And Republicans plan to pass another reconciliation bill that Democrats can’t filibuster to give these agencies even more money.
Legislation ending the DHS shutdown capped off a full week in Congress that also included a short-term extension of foreign surveillance legislation and House passage of the Farm Bill.
Congress is in recess this week with members expected to fill our their schedules with appearances around their districts.
Spending watch
A national conservative group is putting $150,000 behind Public Service Commissioner Tricia Pridemore’s bid for an open U.S. House seat.
Winning For Women Action Fund said the buy will include digital and mail ads backing Pridemore in the 11th District.
The spot casts her as a Donald Trump-aligned conservative who would reinforce the president’s agenda in Congress.
The message is that Trump needs backup, and Pridemore is the fighter he can trust.
Listen up
Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast we answer questions from listeners about the primary elections and the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Voting Rights Act, among other topics.
You can listen and subscribe to “Politically Georgia” for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Have a question or comment for the show? Email us at politicallygeorgia@ajc.com or give us a call at 770-810-5297 and you could be featured on a future episode.
Remembering David Scott
Services at Georgia’s Capitol on Friday and a southwest Atlanta church on Saturday were devoted to commemorating the life of U.S. Rep. David Scott, who died last month at age 80.
The AJC’s David Wickert and Greg Bluestein wrote that hundreds of mourners gathered to pay tribute to Scott at the Capitol after a somber memorial service in the rotunda. Ambassador Andrew Young delivered the eulogy at that event.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock was tapped to do the honors at Saturday’s funeral where the familiar themes of Scott’s religious and political devotions were repeated.
“Dear brother, you finally made it home,” Warnock told the crowd at Elizabeth Baptist Church in Atlanta on Saturday. “Keep the lights on for us.”
Today in Washington
- President Donald Trump will participate in a small business summit.
- The U.S. House and Senate are out for the week.
On the campaign trail
- Collins’ Senate campaign is marking the start of the second week of early voting by launching the “Big Rig Roadshow” with stops today in Acworth, LaFayette, Ringgold and Rome. Fuller, the newest member of Georgia’s congressional delegation, will join him.
- Former President Joe Biden has endorsed Bottoms in the Democratic primary for Georgia governor.
- The national powerhouse Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) has endorsed state Sen. Brian Strickland in the GOP primary for attorney general.
Shoutouts
Today’s birthdays:
- State Rep. Josh Bonner, R-Fayetteville.
- State Rep. Kasey Carpenter, R-Dalton.
- State Rep. Mitchell Horner, R-Ringgold.
- State Rep. Long Tran, D-Dunwoody.
- First lady Marty Kemp.
Want a birthday shoutout in the Politically Georgia newsletter? There’s a form for that. It’s not just birthdays. We’re also interested in new jobs, engagements, birth announcements, etc.
Correction
Friday’s newsletter should have said Harris Wallace’s birthday was Saturday, May 2.
Before you go
We’re hosting a Politically Georgia Happy Hour at Manuel’s Tavern on May 15 — and we’d love for you to join us. Come have a drink with Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell and Patricia Murphy to ask questions about the election and anything else politics related. The event is for subscribers only. You can register here.
That’ll do it for us today. As always, you can send your best scoops, gossip and insider information to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.
About the Authors
Greg Bluestein is the Atlanta Journal Constitution's chief political reporter. He is also an author, TV analyst and co-host of the Politically Georgia podcast.
Tia Mitchell is the AJC’s Washington Bureau Chief and a co-host of the "Politically Georgia" podcast. She writes about Georgia’s congressional delegation, campaigns, elections and the impact that decisions made in D.C. have on residents of the Peach State.
Patricia Murphy is the AJC's senior political columnist. She was previously a nationally syndicated columnist for CQ Roll Call, national political reporter for the Daily Beast and Politics Daily, and wrote for The Washington Post and Garden & Gun. She graduated from Vanderbilt and holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
