Collins nabs U.S. Senate endorsement from Georgia House Speaker Ralston
tive role as a means to delay court cases while working as a defense attorney.
“Like Doug Collins, Ralston is a career politician and criminal defense lawyer who abused his power to protect violent criminals, domestic abusers and child molesters,” said Stephen Lawson, a spokesman for Loeffler. “Both are political insiders who care more about their taxpayerfunded paycheck and politics than public safety and service.”
Collins has punched back at Loeffler, particularly by criticizing her ownership of the Atlanta Dream women’s basketball team and highlighting connections between the team and past events involving Abrams and the pro-abortion rights nonprofit Planned Parenthood.
Thursday’s endorsement did not come as a surprise. Ralston has long touted his friendship with Collins and publicly praised the Gainesville congressman earlier this year during the 2020 legislative session.
But the endorsement does emphasize intra-party schisms between many of the state’s most powerful Republican officeholders like Kemp and Ralston, who each hold large political sway at the state Capitol.
Likewise, Collins held a rally in Gainesville last week that drew attendance from former Gov. Nathan Deal, who has not yet endorsed the congressman but whose presence nonetheless created the appearance of a former Georgia governor lined up against Kemp.
Meanwhile, Loeffler has held a spate of campaign events since last week (week of Aug. 30) featuring Kemp, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, and big-name Washington, D.C., backers including U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.
On the Democratic side, frontrunner Rev. Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, has pulled support from a stream of prominent state and national Democratic leaders including Abrams and Jon Ossoff, the investigative journalist who is competing in Georgia’s other U.S. Senate race as the Democratic nominee.
The hotly contest race for the Senate seat held by Loeffler has drawn 20 other candidates vying to unseat her. All candidates will be on the Nov. 3 ballot in the free-for-all-special election. A runoff will be held in January if no candidate gains more than 50% of votes.