A New York man was arrested for threatening to kill U.S Representative and Georgia Senate candidate Mike Collins and his son-in-law, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Monday.
Collins who is running against incumbent Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff in the midterm election, is a resident of Butts County, Georgia, and has been at the center of controversy throughout his campaign.
Federal investigators in Buffalo said the Butts County Sheriff and deputies traveled to New York at the end of last week to work with the FBI and identify a person behind threats made toward the congressman and his family.
"State lines don't protect those who threaten violence, and they do not stop the FBI and our law enforcement partners from pursuing them," Allen D.
Davis II, FBI Buffalo Special Agent-in-Charge, said in a statement. "Strong law enforcement partnerships are critical to our mission."
The man was not identifed by federal investigators, and his official charges were not released.
Collins responds to threats on his life, his family
In a post shared on X on Monday, Collins thanked the Bureau and Butts County law enforcement for their swift action and for "protect(ing) my family."
"No American should have to worry that their home could be the next Butler, Pennsylvania or Utah Valley University," Collins said, referencing the previous assassination attempt against President Trump and the fatal shooting of conservative figure Charlie Kirk.
"It's become fashionable for leftist(s) to say anything they want about their Republican opponents to try and irrationally and inaccurately paint them as monsters. My opponent clearly likes to play that irresponsible game, and here we are," Collins said. "When you mix false accusations with inflammatory rhetoric, it fuels the lunatics who want to settle political disagreements with violence."
Collins then called on Ossoff to condemn political violence, and said the senator should apologize.
"He should apologize, retract his false attacks, and campaign on the issues affecting Georgians," Collins said.
A spokesperson for the Ossoff campaign told USA TODAY on Tuesday "Senator Ossoff condemns all threats of violence."
Collins' son-in-law stirs controversy for the campaign
In July, a CNN report 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 on Instagram in June of last year, 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.
Collins has been questioned about the relationship with his son-in-law repeatedly on the campaign trail, and while he made a short comment to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution saying "nobody speaks for me," he has also cut press conferences short when asked about Scheer, has failed to denounce any of the material shared by his son-in-law and repeatedly dodged any questions about white supremacist figures.
Other alleged connections to white supremacist figures has become a key attack from the Ossoff campaign, and Collins has largely not addressed the accusations.
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: Man in NY arrested after threatening to kill Georgia Rep. Mike Collins
