A former staffer for Rep. Mike Collins posted a swastika made out of a gay slur and shared an AI-generated image of himself in Ku Klux Klan robes. Jon Ossoff responded within hours: “Yet another connection between Congressman Mike Collins and white nationalism, between Congressman Collins and neo-Nazi ideology... Yet another week, yet another scandal.”
A former staffer for Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.), who is challenging Sen. Jon Ossoff in November’s critical Senate race, shared images in June and July on his X account of a swastika and one that depicts himself in Ku Klux Klan robes.
Ossoff’s Response, Same Day
Ossoff addressed the story directly the morning it broke. “What did we learn this morning in the Washington Post?” he said, pointing to the newspaper’s reporting. “Yet another connection between Congressman Mike Collins and white nationalism, between Congressman Collins and neo-Nazi ideology... Disgraceful and disqualifying. Yet another week, yet another scandal for” Collins’s campaign.
That’s Ossoff reacting to this specific story, within hours of it publishing, and folding it directly into the broader case he’s been building against Collins for months.
The former intern, 24-year-old Preston Parra, who describes himself as a “twink fascist,” told the Washington Post the KKK image was made using Elon Musk’s Grok AI tool and insisted his posts were “satirical.” In July, he posted another image that arranged a slang term for young, slim gay men into the shape of a swastika, an especially loaded juxtaposition given that gay men were among those tortured and killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
Parra denied being a white supremacist, but he also posted “white power” in June and July, and made his views fairly explicit when he told the Post: “I do think that the white race contributes more to the world.” On his own consulting website, Parra quoted Collins praising the quality of his work product, saying, “You can grade it by the amount of people that are watching it and pushing it back out.” Parra also separately posted his support for Collins’s campaign, writing, “let’s get that man elected.”
Parra downplayed any responsibility Collins might bear, telling reporters, “What, is there supposed to be some kind of CIA background check?” Collins’s campaign did not answer the Post’s detailed questions about Parra, instead issuing a statement calling antisemitism “abhorrent” and pivoting to accuse Ossoff, who is Jewish, of failing to sufficiently condemn antisemitism on the left.
This Is the Third Incident, Not the First
Georgia Republicans are increasingly saying this is becoming a pattern rather than a series of coincidences. Just weeks earlier, CNN’s KFile reported extensively on Collins’s son-in-law, David Alan Scheer II, married to Collins’s daughter Summer. CNN found Scheer had built a social media following promoting White nationalist ideology, sharing antisemitic conspiracy theories, and circulating Nazi imagery, including polling his followers on a video titled “why Gen-Z doesn’t hate Hitler.” Scheer has appeared in family photos on Collins’s own campaign website, attended Collins’s Senate primary victory party, and voter records show him registered at a Collins-owned property adjacent to the congressman’s own estate.
When CNN pressed Collins on the relationship at a press conference in late July, he abruptly ended the event rather than answer, saying only, “You know, we’ve fully addressed that,” before cutting the press conference short: “Listen, thank you. I appreciate y’all’s time.”
Separately, ex-aide William Paul, son of Sen. Rand Paul, hurled antisemitic insults at Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) at a bar in May, and Collins also replaced his chief of staff, Kip Talley, in July after Slate reported Talley had participated in a group chat that included white supremacists Nick Fuentes and Richard Spencer.
Ossoff Has Been Building This Case for Weeks
Today’s comment wasn’t a one-off. After CNN’s Scheer reporting, Ossoff said Collins was “unfit for any office,” calling him “a known bigot and antisemite” and adding, “This is a man who represents a dark past that Georgia has moved on through and beyond.”
At a rally in Atlanta, Ossoff went further: “Mike Collins needs to release every email, every text, every call, every single communication between those white supremacists and himself or his chief of staff or anyone in his office.” He described Collins as “a known bigot under federal investigation for the illegal misuse of tax dollars, surrounded by neo-Nazis and white nationalists, widely known for his poor character and low integrity.”
Earlier this month, Ossoff held a virtual press conference specifically demanding Collins answer whether his business had paid Scheer for work: “It’s been more than a month since CNN reported that Congressman Mike Collins has had a neo-Nazi propagandist producing vile neo-Nazi propaganda from Mike Collins’ home.”
Republicans Are Starting to Break Ranks Too
One Georgia conservative, quoted by Raw Story, said flatly: “We do not need a senator that thinks he’s a media influencer on X and has no integrity.” Atlanta radio host Shelley Wynter announced he’s endorsing Ossoff instead, citing “the meanness and mean-spiritedness” of Collins’s campaign. Several Georgia Republicans told the Washington Post they increasingly see a pattern they fear could cost the party the race.
Collins also remains under a House Ethics Committee review over alleged misuse of government funds, which a watchdog report has recommended pursuing via subpoena. Collins has dismissed that probe as a “nothingburger.”
Why This Race Matters So Much
Collins is running against Ossoff in a contest widely seen as pivotal to Senate control, where Republicans currently hold a narrow 53-47 edge. Collins won the GOP nomination with Trump’s endorsement, and Georgia is now one of a small handful of states that could determine which party controls the chamber next year.