Prior to his recent run for Congress, Collins ran a successful trucking company, where he took customer service to the next level. “I’ve been a diamond medallion on Delta for years, and it is because I go see my customers,” he said. “I firmly believe that if you really want to be the best in your business, you go speak to the people who are paying your bills and it’s the same thing in Congress.”

Following Mike Johnson’s election as Speaker of the House, Collins took a stab at running for House GOP leadership, coming up short; he’s now interested in climbing the NRCC leadership ladder or the House GOP leadership ladder, or both, he said.

“There’s a split there; there’s leadership, and then there’s policy,” Collins said. “If you go towards leadership, a lot of times you don’t get those policy committees because you’re pushing leadership. But who knows, maybe we can break that cycle.”

Collins is happy to work wherever he is needed. “What I want to make sure is that at the end of the day, when I burn out up here, that we left everything on the field, that if we had the opportunity to do and help in a certain way, we did. I told Speaker Kevin McCarthy, ‘I don’t care if you put me on the garden committee. You’ll have the best vegetables you ever ate.’”

Anderson’s race is one of almost a dozen where Collins has spent his free time campaigning, and Republicans across the country are noticing. Randy Niemeyer, who is challenging Rep. Frank Mrvan (D., Ind.) told the Reporter that “it was great having Congressman Mike Collins out in the district, knocking on doors and connecting with voters. As a fellow trucker, Mike understands the challenges working families face, and it was great to share that bond while working to preserve the Republican majority. His support means a lot; together, we’re fighting to bring blue-collar values and common-sense leadership to Washington.”

In addition to campaigning for Anderson and Niemeyer, Collins also campaigned for John McGuire, Tom Barrett, Laurie Buckhout, Rob Bresnahan, Austin Theriault, Derek Merrin, Brian Jack, and Rep. Jen Kiggans (R., Va.). His campaign confirmed to the Reporter that he is also fully paid up on his dues to the NRCC.

Collins will be knocking on doors until the very last poll closes, he said — immediately preceding and following his interview with the Reporter, in fact, he was knocking on doors with and for Anderson.

Below is a transcript of our interview with Rep. Mike Collins, lightly edited for clarity.

Washington Reporter:
We’re here in the Derrick Anderson for Congress headquarters in Virginia. You’ve been traveling around the country, stumping and knocking on doors for House Republican challengers and for a couple of your colleagues. When did this idea come to your mind? 

Rep. Mike Collins:
I’m a freshman in Congress, and after I won the first time, we had some extra time because our race is in the primary. I do have a Democrat opponent, but that’s okay. We’ll win that race. Last time around, we picked out a few candidates that the NRCC and people wanted us to try to help push across. This time around, I thought we need to do that again. But let’s redefine how we want to pick out the candidates we want to help. There’s a certain few candidates that we were going to help who are incumbents who need to maintain their seat. But then we went and picked out nine people, and we based them on four different things: Number one, I wanted to somebody I could work with, somebody who’s very conservative, who has Judeo-Christian values, preferably a business person or someone with a business background or family in business. And then fourth, which was very important, is that they have to be America First, period. We have had the situation before where Donald Trump came in as president. He had the House and the Senate, but they didn’t have his back. And I think this time around, we need to make sure that not only does he get elected president, but that he’s going to have a House and a Senate that will push that agenda through. 

Washington Reporter:
Let’s talk about 2022. What lessons did you learn from your own campaign? You grew up in politics with your dad being in Congress. What do you think looks different in Georgia, for example, in between 2022 and 2024?

Rep. Mike Collins:
I think people are very energized this time around. I think they’re not only energized, they’re engaged. I’ve been amazed. Look at the even just the economy and border security, just in two years, at how drastically that’s changed, and those really affect people. It’s those things that are that our bread and butter. People are finding they don’t have any money left at the end of the month. They’re seeing violence and lawlessness out there. That part of it’s changed heavily. My dad always told me ‘son, folks really don’t want to know how the watch is made. They just want to know what time it is,’ and that’s one of the reasons we’re out here knocking on doors too, especially on people’s doors who don’t really participate in politics. And we’re telling them, ‘hey, you want to see a change. It’s time to go vote. And I happen to be in Congress, and I’m up here with so-and-so pushing so-and-so, because I need their help. I feel like if you put them in Congress with me, then we’ll get things done.’ And that’s why we go out and we knock doors. 

Washington Reporter:
Who were you able to help in 2022 who then became your colleague?

Rep. Mike Collins:
We went out and we stumped for Eli Crane. We did a lot of door knocking with Eli.

Washington Reporter:
Did that help then inform your working relationship with him in Congress? Can you similarly see this helping your relationship with Derrick and everyone else that you’re door knocking doors with?

Rep. Mike Collins:
Eli and I have a great relationship. We don’t run in the same circles, and that’s fine. We’re both extremely conservative. I think we may take different tactics on how we do things, and I think that plays into the formulation on how you want to get out and how you want to on who you want to help. That’s probably played into a lot of who we decided that we’re going to go help this time around.

Washington Reporter:
One of the first candidates you were knocking on this cycle for other than yourself was Brian Jack in Georgia. Talk about how you think Georgia is looking for President Trump and for Republicans down the ballot there. I saw there was a little indication that Rep. Sanford Bishop may be a little closer than than he’d like to be.

Rep. Mike Collins:
I haven’t paid much attention to Sanford’s race per se. We had a good run at it back in 22. I helped on that race as well. I thought we might have a better chance at that one. Brian was an easy one to pick. Anybody who’s got the president’s ear, literally, why would you not want that person in Congress? Especially if you’re espousing Donald Trump’s agenda. He’s a good pickup. He actually will be representing my dad’s old district. I know that district, and we were over there campaigning. We did three stops in one day there recently, and by the third stop, people kept giving me all kinds of memorabilia and stuff. I told them ‘I feel like I’m at a family reunion here,’ because I hadn’t seen a lot of those people in 25, 30 years. So he’s a good one. On Trump, man, I hope I don’t have blinders on. I don’t think I do, but having been on stage every time that he’s been in Georgia, there is huge momentum. You can feel it. I was at Charlie Loudermilk’s house in 2016, there probably weren’t 40 people there, and Donald Trump was there before he was even a nominee, and they had an organization, but it’s very small. In 2020, we know what happened. I was working the polls in 2020 and I saw what was coming through the door absentee ballot wise. This time around, we’re seeing people put up not just one yard sign in favor of Donald Trump. They’re putting all kinds of stuff in their yard: flags, signs, everything they can find, and they’re putting it in your face. ‘We’re for Trump, and we’re going to show it. And if you’re going to do anything different, by God, you can at least see that we’re supporting this man, and so we’re not shy about it at all.’ I don’t think it’s going to be close. 

Washington Reporter:
John McGuire, who was primarying Rep. Bob Good, was the first candidate you knocked doors for this cycle. How’d that come about? It seemed like a lot of House Republicans decided to send checks, but you were door knocking for John McGuire against one of your colleagues. Was that awkward? 

Rep. Mike Collins:
No. We’ve had some disagreements on some things, and I’ll be honest with you, I’m looking for a true America First person. I don’t need anybody who, when Trump gets there, may not go that route.

Washington Reporter:
What do you define ‘America First’ as? 

Rep. Mike Collins:
I define America First as looking at concepts through a lens of ‘is it good for America? Is it good for the American people? Is it going to advance our policies and make us stronger?’

Washington Reporter:
Let’s look at the map of where you’ve been traveling around the country. You’ll be going to Indiana soon. You’ll be going to Michigan soon, but you’ve been in Virginia, you’ve been in Georgia, you’ve been in Maine and Pennsylvania. What do these districts have in common? What’s been fun for you?

Rep. Mike Collins:
I told the folks in Maine I was going to talk extra slow so they could understand me. Maine was a little different. I called it ‘Bang-er’ all day long. I didn’t know it’s ‘Bang-OR’ until they told me that night at one of the functions we were at. The district represented by Rep. Jared Golden is one of the hardest districts, because unless you’re going to door knock down around Lewiston and Portland down there, you’re not door knocking unless you’re riding a vehicle, because it’s just so spread out. That is a tough district, filled with hardworking people. I went all over the place telling people ‘I’m in the trucking business, I’m in the most regulated and taxed business that there is, bar none.’ And I’ve changed my mind in two years. I really think we all are in that type, in the most taxed and regulated. And it was up there with lobstermen, and I never even knew this. They have to put trackers in their boat so that the federal government can track them everywhere they go. They have to write down everywhere they’re at, they are logging just like a truck driver on a lobster boat. That’s just how much of an overreach, and how overregulated the federal government has gotten. It’s one thing to tell somebody that we want you to have a certain size, that’s, I understand that, but to keep up with them everywhere they stop and everywhere they go? That doesn’t make common sense.

Washington Reporter:
What do you feel like you’ve learned on these campaign swings?

Rep. Mike Collins:
I think we all have common issues, and I’ve alluded to that.

Washington Reporter:
I assume you don’t have that many lobstermen, though? 

Rep. Mike Collins:
No, we don’t have that many lobstermen. But you can relate. I may not know your industry and your specific needs, but if you came in and you sat down and you said, ‘I’m an electrician, and these are the problems I’m seeing,’ I can believe it easier, because I can sit here and say, ‘yeah man, I’ve been going through the same crap, or even different crap, same government.’ So it’s easier to believe those stories and understand these problems, because it’s hard to make a living. You don’t mind regulations, but you do mind stupid ones. And you do mind the ones that are just killing the industry for no reason. And most of time these bureaucrats, man, they don’t know your industry. I’ve heard that so much out there. I used to say it because I thought, ‘man, they don’t know what we’re doing. They just sit in some office.’ But everywhere I go, there are people who are being oppressed like that.

Washington Reporter:
Has this realization that the government is not necessarily connecting with lobstermen in Maine, for example, given you any thought legislatively of things that you’d want to be able to change with how industries are regulated?

Rep. Mike Collins:

The REINS Act is very much needed, and I signed on to that, and campaigned on that. These regulations should be sunsetted. We should have to go back and vote on these things. We’ve got to pull the power out of these bureaucrats’ hands and put it back into the to the legislators’ hands. I know it’s going to be work. I know you’re going to have to vote on it. But there’s no reason that we come up here and we won’t start work until six o’clock on a Monday night, and we go home on a Thursday morning at 10:30. We can work Monday to Friday. People probably wouldn’t like it if I was Speaker.

Washington Reporter:
As you’ve been campaigning, do you feel inspired to run for office within the House GOP ranks? You ran for House GOP Vice Chair earlier in the year. 

Rep. Mike Collins:
Passion is one thing, desire is one thing, but opportunity is all that really counts. I never thought I’d be in the tire recycling business, but I’ve done pretty damn good at it, because the opportunity came up to get into it. This seat was open, the opportunity was there. I knew I could win it. So who knows what opportunities come around the corner? I don’t know, and if it does, we’ll take a hard look at it again. I’m not opposed to doing that. What I want to make sure is that at the end of the day, when I burn out up here, that we left everything on the field, that if we had the opportunity to do and help in a certain way, we did. I told Speaker Kevin McCarthy, ‘I don’t care if you put me on the garden committee. You’ll have the best vegetables you ever ate, we’ll be on that committee. We’ll do what we have to do. We’ll do what we needed to do.’ We’ll take a look at it. I always leave the options open if the opportunity comes.

Washington Reporter:
Is your interest level more on the government side of the House GOP or are you interested in getting involved on the NRCC leadership side of things?

Rep. Mike Collins:
That’s hard, because you’re right. There’s a split there; there’s leadership, and then there’s policy. If you go towards leadership, a lot of times you don’t get those policy committees because you’re pushing leadership. But who knows, maybe we can break that cycle.

Washington Reporter:
So you’re taking more of a wait and see approach?

Rep. Mike Collins:
I didn’t come up here to be Speaker in eight years. 

Washington Reporter:
You’ve grown up around politics. How have you seen this profession change from back when your dad was in Congress in the 90s through the early 2000s to now? Would he recognize Congress to what it takes to get here?

Rep. Mike Collins:
Probably what it takes to get here. And maybe we just do it old school. Knocking doors is in my blood. I absolutely love it. Hitting the diners early in the morning, absolutely love it. I did my first campaign speech in the fourth grade. It was in my classroom. My dad was running for county commissioner. He told me, ‘tell all the kids to go and tell the parents to vote for me.’ 

Washington Reporter:
Did he win? 

Rep. Mike Collins:
Yeah.

Washington Reporter:
So you’re a persuasive guy.

Rep. Mike Collins:
I stood up told my classmates, ‘hey, my dad’s running for county commissioner. Post number three, tell your parents we need their vote.’

Washington Reporter:
How have you seen politics change over the years?

Rep. Mike Collins:
When Hurricane Helene came through, we posted on social media some of the weather information for people. Very first post, ‘I hope the hurricane hits your house, kills you and your entire family.’ That’s how it’s changed. They don’t know me. My family doesn’t deserve that. Or when I was campaigning two years ago, people were calling my office, telling the ladies in my office what they were going to come to my office to do to them, that’s where we’ve gotten. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not crying about it. I know that’s the way it is, but it’s also the way it wasn’t. When my dad was in there, he didn’t have that. He had disagreements, but you didn’t have that vulgar sense.

Washington Reporter:
One of the constants has been grassroots campaigning. Can you talk about why that’s important for you? 

Rep. Mike Collins:
I think that especially in tight races, that when you personally ask somebody for their vote, I think that that means a whole lot more than them seeing an ad on TV. And if I could knock on 100 doors a day, usually, I can do 12 to 20 an hour, depending on how close they are. 100 doors a day is 200 people at a minimum. If there’s a husband and wife, there may be a third with a child, you can make a difference right there. And people remember that. I was at a barbecue in our district last week, and guy walked up to me, didn’t know who he was, and he shook my hand. He said, ‘you knocked on my door. That’s the reason I voted for you. That’s the reason I got back involved.’ I hear that all the time, because we walked pretty close to seven miles a day, seven days a week. 

Washington Reporter:
It’s a good diet. 

Rep. Mike Collins:
If you want to lose 15 pounds, run for Congress. I was lean.

Washington Reporter:
You’re getting something out of this. You’re staying in shape when you travel the country.

Rep. Mike Collins:
It’s that personal ask, I think that weighs and gives you a whole lot more than just a commercial. 

Washington Reporter:
Do you have any tips for the volunteers who knock on doors, who read our outlet, on how to make that a successful ask?

Rep. Mike Collins:
When I ask for their vote, and if they’re if they say, ‘yeah, sure, we’re going to vote for them,’ usually, I’ll follow up immediately and say ‘hey, we’d love to advertise out here on the street. What about a yard sign?’ I’m very competitive, and I hope I don’t give away my secrets but that’s usually what I ask. That’s always kind of like the the cherry on top, man, when you can get that yard sign, it’s kind of like planting a flag. It’s somebody making an outward statement, ‘hey, I’m for these people.’

Washington Reporter:
As you’ve traveled, have there been surprising local issues that don’t affect you guys in Georgia that you’ve learned about?

Rep. Mike Collins:
Most of the time those have become state issues or a local issue or something. Earlier today, a lady was talking about how she was just so worried about the voting process and she was just worried about her vote actually counting, and the legitimacy of voting. And you still hear that people are concerned with that, and rightly so.

Washington Reporter:
What is your case to disaffected Republican conservative voters, that even if you feel that way, it’s still imperative that you get out and vote?

Rep. Mike Collins:
If you don’t go vote, they already got you. If you think they’re cheating and you don’t go vote, well, you didn’t even give them a chance to cheat. They won anyway. So I tell people, no matter what you think, until we can change the process, you gotta abide by the process and go swamp that vote. 

Washington Reporter:
And does that prove convincing?

Rep. Mike Collins:
They kind of will hee-haw around a little bit. Most of them who I’ve talked to say, ‘well, okay, I understand what you’re saying.’ And I follow up, ‘hey, man, I’m like Lou Holtz. If I can’t trust you, I can’t use you.’ And that’s a lot of what you hear out there, they don’t trust the machines. In our case in Georgia especially, that’s usually the case. Those machines may be the best thing since sliced bread, maybe the best thing ever to come about. But the problem is that people don’t trust them, and if they don’t trust them, they don’t believe in them.

Washington Reporter:
What is, outside of Georgia, the best food that you’ve eaten as you’ve been doing all this campaigning?

Rep. Mike Collins:
I would have to say that the lobster roll is up there. That was good. It was at the fair. We didn’t get any more food at the fair, though, that kind of made me mad. But other than that, I’m very partial to my George barbecues. I’m going to compare everything to the guys down the road from me. Where I live, there’ll be 100 years in business in just two years. So I kind of compare everybody to them, but we’ve had some good barbecue, had some good fried chicken last week when we were in North Carolina. They know how to fry chicken there.

Washington Reporter:
One of the things I think that’s been interesting about you and your time so far in Congress is your use of social media. It seems like you’re all about accessibility. Does this come from your time in business? 

Rep. Mike Collins:
I think it comes from my time in business. I’ve been a diamond medallion on Delta for years, and it is because I go see my customers. I firmly believe that if you really want to be the best in your business, you go speak to the people who are paying your bills and it’s the same thing in Congress. The voters are the ones that are out there. They’re your customers. And the Senate. I spent probably about four or five months last year just going to visit with senators. I didn’t want anything, just wanted to let them know who I was. But I had a couple pieces of legislation that floated over there, and I could pick up the phone and say, ‘hey, this is what I’ve got going,’ and they were more than willing to be receptive and listen to me. So I’m a firm believer in just going to see any customer base. 

Washington Reporter:
What other lessons have you taken from your time in business?

Rep. Mike Collins:
Cash is king. You can have all the receivables in the world, but if you ain’t got no money in the bank, you go broke quick. And that’s kind of where we’re at. 

Washington Reporter:
Are you talking about that on the candidate fundraising side or on the national debt side?

Rep. Mike Collins:
On the national debt side. And that’s one of the reasons I look for certain people; we’ve got to start running that place like a business. And I find people all the time, they talk about, how we’ve just got to raise taxes. Well, that’s not exactly right, because you’ve got expenses and you’ve got revenues, and if we can adjust the rules, the regs, and the taxes, and bring in business, and bring business back from across the sea, back from other countries, you can raise your revenue just by sheer fact that you’re going to have more people. But people don’t look at it that way. 

Washington Reporter:
You’re a congressman right now, and it sounds like you’re feeling optimistic about Trump. How are you feeling about the House? 

Rep. Mike Collins:
I think we’re in a position to grow our majority.

Washington Reporter:
And what do you want to do yourself? What are your goals if you win the House and you win the White House and the Senate? 

Rep. Mike Collins:
Well, the last part of what I tell people is that in the 119th Congress, we’re going to have the ability to make history. You do those things with Trump, and give us a little bit more in the majority in the House, and you flip the Senate, we’ll be able to make changes to this country that are going to affect generations. The trajectory of this country needs to be changed, and it’s taken decades to get it to where it’s at, but we will have the power, we will have the right people in place so that we can actually make fundamental changes that will get this country back on track.

Washington Reporter:
What are the places in that change-making process where you want to be? You had the TRANQ Act early on in your time with Congress.

Rep. Mike Collins:
I love what the committees that I’m on. I really do. I can make an impact on T&I just because I know it. Also on taxes, I know it inside and out because I’ve been paying them for 30 something years. So that Ways and Means Committee over there is taxes and tariffs. I would love to be sitting across from the Chinese and say, ‘buddy, this is it. And I’m not bullshitting you, this is what we’re going to do. You can either get on board with it or we’re going home.’ And I wouldn’t have a problem with that. I’d love to be a part of that. I’d love to be a part of the Federal Agency Efficiency Commission that Trump keeps talking about with Elon Musk.

Washington Reporter:
Has Elon Musk been in your mentions yet? 

Rep. Mike Collins:
He’s following us. I would love to be a part of that. I know what I would love to be a part of, but if they stuck me over here somewhere and they said, ‘this is where you’re gonna go,’ I’m gonna be the best damn one you can find. We’re gonna work our butts off.

Washington Reporter:
We’re sitting here in Virginia. You represent Georgia. Both of these states have been Republican, fairly reliably, for a while. What would you say to Virginia Republicans outside of this district about how Brian Kemp was able to push back on Stacey Abrams in 2018 and 2022 to keep Republicans well positioned to be winning statewide in states like yours?

Rep. Mike Collins:
First of all, you’ve got to have good candidates. And take, for instance, here with Derrick, he’s the right candidate for this district, just like Laurie Buckhout was down in North Carolina where she’s a true reflection of the district. I mean, Derrick lives right here, grew up here. You gotta have great candidates. Georgia is by far not purple. I know people say that it is, but every constitutional officer we’ve got is Republican, the governor’s Republican, the Lieutenant Governor’s Republican, the House, the Senate are both Republican majorities. The only real Democrats we have are our two U.S. senators. I firmly believe that David Perdue should ask for a recount. But all that’s in the past. Jon Ossoff is coming up in two years. He’ll have some tough competition. He’ll have some good opponents if he runs. But you take a look at the early voting results just right now, and you take a look at my county. My county is 28,000 people, 19,000 registered voters. In the first two days, over 2,000 people voted. Almost 11 percent have already voted. That’s a big shift, a huge shift, from 2022. If we continue the pace we’re voting at, we won’t have anybody left to vote on Election Day.

Washington Reporter:
Have you voted early?

Rep. Mike Collins:
Oh yeah. As a matter of fact, they said that voting was going to start at 9am and I got there at 8:30, and was going to do a quick video, and I noticed that somebody came out with a sticker on, and I thought ‘what is going on,’ so I trotted on in there and got in line. The turnout has been big. Trump said get out the vote early, and they’re turning out in masses to make a statement. Looking to 2026, Brian Kemp would be a good opponent for Ossoff. He’s got the war machine, he’s got people in place all across the state, he’s well-liked, extremely well-liked. He’s as hard-headed as Donald Trump is. 

Washington Reporter:
What’s the funniest anecdote that’s stood out to you on this campaign swing?

Rep. Mike Collins:
Everywhere I go, people tell me ‘I can tell, you ain’t from around here.’ It’s the very first thing I hear. It’s just hilarious, it happens everywhere we go. I did not realize I have an accent. We’ve met some really good people, who are concerned about this country and their families. This is true off the campaign trail too. They say I’ve been to more field hearings than just about anybody, all over the country. People are worried about their kids and their grandkids and their future. 

Washington Reporter:
Have you had anyone recognize you in these other districts, either from your media or your social media presences?

Rep. Mike Collins:
Yeah, a few people.

Washington Reporter:
How’s that ego boost feel?

Rep. Mike Collins:
Everybody’s got an ego, anybody who says they don’t is lying to you. You just try to keep it in check. I hope they’re recognizing us for our hard work more than anything. 

Washington Reporter:
Thanks so much for chatting, congressman.