Ossoff and Collins trade personal attacks during heated Georgia Senate debate

In a combative Georgia Senate debate, incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff and his challenger, Republican Rep. Mike Collins, wasted no time trading blows on the economy, tariffs, health care cuts, data centers and more.

Georgia's Senate race is one of the midterm election contests that has drawn considerable national attention. Ossoff is the only Senate Democrat running for reelection in a state that President Trump won two years ago, and the Democratic Party believes keeping the Georgia Senate seat is vital to reclaim a majority in the legislative body.

Collins is going into the race with the backing of Mr. Trump, who called the Republican lawmaker a "true Friend, Fighter, and WARRIOR" in an endorsement ahead of the Senate runoff in June. In September, Collins also received the backing of outgoing Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who originally backed his runoff opponent, former college football coach Derek Dooley. Ossoff has been endorsed by former President Barack Obama, who recently recorded radio ads encouraging Georgians to vote for him, as well as other Democratic leaders, including former Vice President Kamala Harris.

In recent months, the candidates have not shied away for attacking each other. Ossoff has called Collins a "notorious bigot and Trump puppet" and accused his campaign of having ties to white supremacists. Collins has called Ossoff an "out-of-touch far-left liberal" and "trust fund kid who never had a job in his life," a description he repeated during the debate. 

In his opening statement, Ossoff continued his attacks, describing the event as "the trial of Mike Collins."

"Mike Collins has brought dishonor to our state through his personal bigotry and his ties to white nationalists, and he has sold out Georgia in his pathetic childlike devotion to Donald Trump," Ossoff said.

In return, Collins called Georgia a radical and extremist who "left our state less safe, more expensive, and worse off."

He said that he was willing to work with Republicans and Democrats to pass legislation to help Georgians, pointing to his work on the Laken Riley Act.

"If you send me to the Senate, I'll work with whoever I need to to get results, and I won't sell out our values doing it," Collins said.

Inflation takes center stage in Georgia Senate debate

When asked about inflation, Collins and Ossoff disagreed over its root cause. Collins argued that former President Joe Biden's economic plans and the Green New Deal were the root cause of the nation's problems, while Ossoff took aim at Mr. Trump's Big Beautiful Bill and tariffs, which Collins supported.

Collins defended his support of the president's policies, saying his support for the legislation "funneled back into the economy," something he argued was not the cause of inflation. Ossoff, who voted against the bill, said that he wanted to end the war in Iran and repeal the tariffs. 

"If you want to understand whether the Trump-Collins budget has helped ya, just go fill up a tank of gas, go to the grocery store, try to buy food for your kids, look at your electric bill this year," he said.

The Democratic senator said that the economy was being "strangled" by the tariffs and the effects of the war with Iran, saying that Collins has voted seven times to support the war, a war he said was destroying the Georgia's farmers. 

While Ossoff continued to emphasize the effects of tariffs, Collins took aim at Ossoff on border security, saying that the senator chose to shut down the government for 48 days to defund the border patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement rather than vote on an aid package supporting farmers after Hurricane Helene.

Candidates trade barbs on health care and hospital closures

During questions over health care, Collins touted the Big Beautiful Bill's support for rural hospitals, placing the blame for health insurance problems on previous Democratic legislation.

"The Affordable Care Act is what has caused your insurance to go sky high. Our premiums have gone through the roof and your coverage has gone through the floor," Collins said before saying that Ossoff wouldn't understand worrying about paying for health care insurance.

He said, if elected to the Senate, he would push for more transparency in insurance and to make sure people pay a fair price for drugs.

Ossoff said the reason that rural hospitals have been closing, including one in Collins' district, was due to Republican effort to cut Medicaid. He also pushed for Medicaid expansion in Georgia, saying that the state needed former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to become governor to fix the state's "health care emergency." 

Data center question turn into personal attacks, though some common ground is found

While both candidates agreed that local communities should have a say on whether data centers should be built in their areas, the question quickly became personal.

Collins said that one Ossoff's major donors was Silicon Valley investor and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, a major Democratic donor who had ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

Ossoff, in turn, said that Collins' support of the Big Beautiful Bill gave $70 million to data center developers.

"It's not just that you hired half the Third Reich to staff your congressional office and you've promoted neo-nazi content online, it's that you've robbing your constituents to subsidize your donors," Ossoff said. 

One thing the candidates did agree with was concerns about Flock cameras. Both Ossoff and Collins said they had concerns over possible abuse of the system.

Ossoff defends vote to block arms to Israel

In December, Ossoff voted to block some shipments of U.S. arms to Israel, a move that disappointed some of his Jewish constituents.

During the debate, Ossoff avoided calling the situation in Gaza a genocide, saying that while he had no doubt that Israeli forces violated humanitarian law, the labeling of the conflict was a question for the international criminal court.

"I care deeply about the security of the Israeli people, among whom are members of my family. I also care about innocent Palestinian life, and make no apology for my votes," he said.

Collins said that Ossoff has connections to Hasan Piker, a popular left-wing activist and streamer whose statements have led to controversy in the past, and Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for one of Michigan's U.S. Senate seats, who he claimed "hates Israel and loves Iran."

Allegations of white supremacist ties connected to Collins

Collins brought up El-Sayed and Piker again when responding to a question about possible neo-nazi and white surpremacist ties that Ossoff and others have accused him of.

Ossoff has called for Collins to release all communications between Kip Talley, the Republican lawmaker's former chief of staff, and a group that included white nationalists Nick Fuentes and Richard Spencer.

In the chats, originally reported by Slate in May, Talley discussed efforts to get Charles Johnson out of custody. Johnson, who Ossoff described as a "white nationalist" and "prominent Holocaust denier," was in federal custody for contempt of court from November 2025 to February 2026.

Collins called the allegations by the Ossoff campaign "craziness."

"I've condemned racism, anti-Semitism, hate. I don't care where the source is," Collins said. "And I tell him that too. It's wrong. We have no place in this world for that."

Ossoff said that Collins himself has amplified hateful content online, calling him a "bigot" and saying that his words were "disqualifying to be a U.S. senator."

Polls see Democratic-leaning Georgia

The Cook Political Report and the University of Virginia's Center for Politics have both recently rated the Georgia Senate race as likely Democrat. Polling from Insider Advantage, Big Data Poll, and YouGov in the last few weeks has found Ossoff with a lead of eight, 10, and 10 points respectively.

This was the first debate between the two candidates this election season. Ossoff and Collins will meet again in less than a week as part of the Atlanta Press Club's Loudermilk-Young Debate Series.