GOP campaign chief flees questions about white nationalist-linked Senate candidate
U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) looks on as he takes part in the Republican National Midterm Convention in Dallas, Texas, U.S., September 9, 2026. REUTERS/Jessica Koscielniak

National Republican Senatorial Committee chair Tim Scott (R-SC) was caught by reporters asking him for comment on Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), currently running in the Georgia Senate race, being linked to white nationalists.

His response was to make his escape.

"Are you worried about Mike Collins' white nationalist ties, Senator Scott?" a reporter asked in a video uploaded to X. Scott completely ignored the reporter, continuing to walk down the hall away from her.

Collins, currently trying to Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, has faced a string of reports connecting him to individuals espousing white nationalist and neo-Nazi views. In July 2026, CNN reported that Collins' son-in-law, social media influencer David Alan Scheer II, had used his platform to promote Patriot Front, a designated neo-Nazi hate group, along with antisemitic conspiracy theories and calls for deporting Muslims.

The scrutiny deepened in late August 2026, when The Washington Post reported that a former Collins staffer, 24-year-old Preston Parra, had posted swastika imagery and photos of himself dressed in Ku Klux Klan-style robes as recently as June and July of that year. Parra, who has described himself online as a "twink fascist," also reportedly used racial slurs and quoted Nazi song lyrics in other posts.

Ossoff has repeatedly cited the pattern of associations in campaign appearances, pointing not only to Scheer and Parra but also to earlier reporting that a self-described neo-Nazi propagandist had worked out of Collins' home for his trucking business, and that Collins' congressional office had briefed prominent white supremacists on their efforts to support a Holocaust denier.

More than 50 Black Georgia state lawmakers signed a joint statement pressing Collins on the allegations, and Capital B News reported that even some Black Republican leaders in Georgia have grown reluctant to back his Senate campaign as a result.