The web of controversy surrounding Georgia U.S. Senate candidate Mike Collins has grown this week after more connections between the current Republican Representative from the 10th congressional district and white nationalist ideology were revealed.
A new report from the Washington Post found a former staffer of Collins' shared KKK and Nazi imagery on his social media pages, and has promoted white supremacist messaging online.
The staffer, who uses the X handle "@PrestonDelToro," responded to the report by sharing racial slurs, reposting photos of himself wearing KKK-style white robes and calling Collins' opponent in the Senate race, incumbent Senator Jon Ossoff, a "pro-Palestinian Jewish weirdo."
The report adds to a number of instances where
Collins has had close ties to Holocaust deniers, white nationalist influencers and messages of his own that were perceived as either racist or antisemitic.
It's now fewer than 70 days until the Trump-backed candidate will face Ossoff in the November midterm elections, but will his controversies push center-leaning Republicans toward a Democrat who has been backed by other Georgia conservatives?
Repeated requests for comment, including by USA TODAY, have not received responses from the Collins campaign.
Here's a look at Collins' complicated history with white supremacism.
Collins shares post insulting Black woman at Ole Miss
Collins was elected in Georgia's 10th congressional district, which serves the central part of the state, in 2022 and took office in January of 2023. Already known as a 2020 election denier and staunch Trump supporter, Collins was popular among Georgia's MAGA base.
But it wasn't long before he faced controversy.
Following the October 7 attack in Israel and subsequent Israeli military operation in Palestine, protests on universities across the country escalated into confrontations between pro-Palestine protestors and pro-Israel counterprotestors.
At the University of Mississippi, a video went viral of a Black woman surrounded by white students and the white students mimicking ape-like motions toward the woman and making monkey-like calls. The gesture, widely known as racist, was called out in video comments.
Collins, however, shared the video on his official X account with the caption "Ole Miss taking care of business." The post was met with widespread backlash, with comments ranging from calling Collins racist to an account know as "Republicans Against Trump" asking "Have you no shame?"
In another instance in 2024, New York Congressman Anthony D'Esposito shared an image of an alleged undocumented immigrant holding his hands up in a vulgar gesture, with the caption "we feel the same about you. Holla at the cartels and have them escort you back."
Collins shared the post with a different caption: "Or we could buy him a ticket on Pinochet Air for a free helicopter ride back."
Collins was referencing former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet who during his takeover of Chile was known to load political prisoners into helicopters or airplanes and then throw them out of the aircraft to their deaths.
The post now has a note from X reading "this post violated the X rules. However, X has determined that it may be in the public's interest for the post to remain accessible."
Former staffer communicates with far-right figures
Kip Talley, Collins' former chief of staff, was later accused of associating with and collaborating with far-right figures Nick Fuentes and Richard Spencer in 2026.
According to a group chat reviewed by Slate, Talley attempted to use his position in Collins' office to intervene in the prison sentence of Charles Johnson, a known Holocaust denier, internet troll and racist. According to the outlet, Talley was coordinating with Fuentes and Spencer to check on Johnson, who was incarcerated on contempt charges. He also put money in Johnson's prison commissary and told members of the group chat he was "trying to get (Johnson) out."
"I acted solely in my personal capacity after hearing concerns that an acquaintance I have known for years was being mistreated in custody and denied basic medical care. I was simply trying to help a suffering inmate connect with counsel. I did not act at the direction of Rep. Collins, use official resources, or coordinate with anyone else in the group chat," Talley said in a statement to Slate.
Talley was deputy chief of staff at the time of the group chat, but was promoted to chief when Brandon Phillips, who was part of a House ethics investigation, was fired for mocking the wife of a strategist for Collins' primary opponent for attempting suicide after accusing Matt Lauer of rape on Collins' official campaign X account. The post was later deleted, and Collins apologized for the post.
Collins' son-in-law is 'neo-Nazi' influencer
In July, a report from CNN found Collins' son-in-law, David Alan Scheer II, spreads white nationalist rhetoric on social media and associates with white supremacist groups.
Sheer, who is married to Collins' daughter Summer, uses the handle "@scheereddzz" on social media and has more than 293,000 followers on Instagram. He has an additional 346,000 subscribers on YouTube where he describes himself as a "Christian, Husband, Father, Carpenter."
He is registered to vote at a property owned by Collins, CNN reported, and has appeared in family photos used for campaign websites, at election-night events and created promotional materials for Collins' trucking company.
His social media posts range from workout routines to Bible verses to anti-Semitic messages.
In a post made in June of last year on Instagram, Sheer said the "deep state" is "the same old Synagogue of Satan that killed our Lord Jesus. Nothing new under the sun." The image with the post showed a meme depicting a Simpson's character holding another character hostage with a gun, as "AIPAC" holding "U.S. Politicians" hostage.
He has also shared posts promoting the White supremacist group Patriot Front, and said "Gen-Z doesn't hate Hitler" in a now-deleted video that was saved by CNN. He also responded "There's nothing wrong with White Nationalism" on a YouTube comment that called his content "disturbing."
The posts and messages span years, according to CNN, and include Nazi imagery, claims that Jews were responsible for porn, the death of JFK and the 9/11 attacks.
In attacks on Collins, Ossoff called Scheer a "new-Nazi propagandist."
Collins has repeatedly dodged questions about Scheer, in one case even walking away from a press conference when questioned, but in a statement made to Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Tia Mitchell, he said "nobody speaks for me, and I don't speak for anybody else... I think it's pretty clear on where I've always stood with Israel."
Former staffer posts Swastika made from LGBTQ+ slang
In the latest report from the Washington Post this week, 24-year-old Preston Parra worked as an intern for Collins before later joining his leadership PAC as a contractor, and has a lengthy history of sharing Nazi rhetoric as well as fascist messages on his social media.
In July, Parra posted the shape of a swastika using the word "twink," a slang term used by some in the LGBTQ+ community to refer to young and thin gay men. He has also used the n-word in posts and captioned others "White Power."
Parra said the image of himself in Klan robes was created using Grok's AI feature.
Parra, who has a Colombian father, told the Post his content is satirical, but that "the white race contributes more to the world." He said he is not a white nationalist and Collins was unaware of his personal social media posts during his time working for the congressman.
Ossoff calls controversies 'disqualifying' for U.S. House, Senate
Ossoff has repeatedly used Collins' controversies against him in political ads and comments to reporters.
During a virtual press conference called by the Ossoff campaign on July 23, the Senator said the accusations against both Collins and Scheer are "disqualifying," and simply referring to a political record is not enough.
Ossoff, who is also Georgia's first Jewish senator and the first Jewish senator elected from the Deep South since 1974, said Collins' association with white supremacists is "certainly disqualifying for a promotion to the United States Senate."
He reiterated the sentiment during a press conference in Macon on Thursday.
Irene Wright covers Georgia politics and elections as the Atlanta Connect reporter with USA TODAY’s Deep South Connect team. Find her on X @IreneEWright or email her at ismith@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mike Collins again tied to white supremacism. See timeline of controversies
