New polling shows Georgia Republican Rep. Mike Collins within “striking distance” of incumbent Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff in a hypothetical matchup for one of the Senate seats representing the Peach State.
The Cygnal poll, conducted from May 15 to May 17 among 800 likely voters, found Ossoff leading Collins 46% to 43%—within the survey’s 3.41 percentage point margin of error.
The poll is more good news for Collins, 47, a second-term lawmaker who also garnered the most support in recent testing by the Trafalgar Group among four potential Republican candidates in a Senate primary in Georgia.
The remarkably strong polling comes despite the fact that Collins has not even formally entered the 2026 race. Ossoff, a liberal Democrat in his first term, is seen as vulnerable in a state that boasts both a Republican-majority state General Assembly and a popular Republican governor. Gov. Brian Kemp announced May 5 that he would not seek the Senate seat.
“Mike was able to get two bills signed into law under two presidents, under two parties, in two years,” a source familiar with the race told The Daily Signal, adding, “He’s a workhorse. You can’t stop him, and the state of Georgia has recognized that, too.”
As a freshman congressman, Collins sponsored the TRANQ Act, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden in December 2023. The legislation directed the National Institute of Standards and Technology to support research on xylazine, which is a nonopioid tranquilizer drug, and other synthetic opioids. When xylazine is mixed with fentanyl, it has grisly effects, including creating wounds that refuse to heal, which has earned it the street moniker of the “zombie drug.”
The move came as drug overdose deaths in the U.S. have skyrocketed over the past two decades. The bill’s passage made Collins the first freshman member of the 118th Congress to have legislation signed into law.
Collins was also the sponsor of the Laken Riley Act. That bill, which was signed into law by President Donald Trump in January, requires the Department of Homeland Security to detain illegal aliens “who have been arrested for burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting.” The legislation was named after Laken Riley, an Augusta University nursing student who was killed by an illegal alien while she was out jogging on Feb. 22, 2024.
Collins graduated in 1990 from Georgia State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business. He subsequently ran a trucking company employing more than 100 people and became chairman of one of Georgia’s largest credit unions.
Public service runs in Collins’ family. His father was Republican Rep. Mac Collins, who represented Georgia’s 3rd and then 8th Congressional Districts from 1993 to 2005.
