A Senate candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump fled a rural Georgia press conference Thursday rather than answer questions about his son-in-law, white nationalist influencer David Alan Scheer II.
Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) abruptly ended the event after reporters peppered him with questions about a CNN report that found Scheer had built a large online following promoting white nationalist ideology, sharing Nazi imagery, and posting antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Collins is the Republican Senate candidate challenging Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) in November.
"We fully addressed that, but Jon Ossoff refuses to disavow these Democrat socialist movements in our country," Collins said, according to Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, when reporters asked him to condemn his son-in-law's statements.
"Could you address the question regarding anti-Semitism?" a reporter asked.
Collins deflected with a list of complaints about Ossoff's votes on spending, cash bail and immigration.
"These aren't Georgia values, y'all. That's what he needs to answer to," the candidate said.
Then he packed up his notes, and a reporter followed him out.
"You don't want to talk about your son-in-law at all? Do you embrace him in the family? Share his views?" the reporter called out.
Collins did not respond.
CNN's reporting found that Scheer — who is married to Collins' daughter and lives on a Collins-owned property — promoted Patriot Front, the white supremacist group that marched through Washington, D.C., over the July 4th weekend.
"There's nothing wrong with White Nationalism," Scheer wrote in YouTube comments, according to the CNN report.
Scheer also warned in a podcast that white people faced extinction and called for "clearing our land of other people."
Collins quietly removed Scheer's photo from his campaign website after the CNN story broke.
Trump's pick for the Georgia Senate seat has not condemned his son-in-law's statements.
"Nobody speaks for me, and I don't speak for anybody else," Collins said when asked about the controversy last week.
In a statement, Ossoff called Collins "a known bigot and antisemite" and said his ties to Scheer disqualified him from office.
"Mike Collins has always stood with the Jewish people and Israel, and condemns all forms of antisemitism, no matter the source," deputy communications director Sam Densmore said, not addressing Scheer directly.
