The battle between U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins for the Republican nomination to face Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff this fall ramped up over the weekend, as the two self-described “MAGA warriors” vie for votes from President Trump’s hardcore supporters in the May 19 primary.
In a new, 30-second ad posted by Carter’s campaign on Sunday, Coastal Georgia’s congressman accuses his colleague from Georgia’s 10th Congressional District of corruption.
“While Trump and Buddy Carter were protecting our wallets, Mike Collins was abusing them,” the ad says. “Collins is under federal investigation for misusing taxpayer funds to benefit himself and his cronies.”
Carter and Collins are in a three-way race for the GOP nomination with Derek Dooley, Gov. Brian Kemp’s choice. With Dooley considered the more moderate of the three, Carter and Collins are seen as rivals for the votes of Georgia’s more conservative and supporters aligned with President Donald Trump. The president has made no endorsement in the race, though Carter’s ad cites his praise for the congressman from St. Simons.
The decision to air the ad indicates Carter is shifting attention from focusing on Ossoff and going on the offensive against his main rival, as he seeks to make up ground in the race and, at the very least, amass enough votes in next month’s primary to make the runoff in June.
The results of an Emerson College poll of 453 voters conducted in late February and early March showed Collins with a 14% lead over Carter and a 20% advantage over Dooley. Some 40% of those surveyed said they “didn’t know” who they would vote for.
Collins’ campaign isn’t taking the new Carter ad lying down.
On Monday, it posted a photo on social media apparently showing the two lawmakers on a visit to the U.S.-Mexican border, with the stern-looking Collins, author of the Laken Riley Act, speaking to a U.S. Border Patrol official while Carter in the background cranes for a cell-phone photo.
“Select all the squares with true MAGA warriors,” the post instructs, under the caption: “A test Buddy Carter will always come up short on.”
‘Unauthorized purposes’
The “federal investigation” cited in Carter’s ad refers to a probe by the House Ethics Committee into allegations that Collins “may have used congressional resources for unofficial or otherwise unauthorized purposes” — specifically, that an aide to Collins, now working on his campaign, may have improperly hired his girlfriend as a paid intern.
In January, investigators for the Office of Congressional Conduct recommended further review of the allegations “because there is substantial reason to believe that Rep. Collins used congressional resources for unofficial or otherwise unauthorized purposes.”
Collins’ office has called the allegations “meritless.”
This article appears in 2026 Elections: Candidate lists, news.
