Georgia Congressman Doug Collins reiterated his stance of support for local law enforcement, while suggesting opponent Kelly Loeffler’s lack thereof, during a press gathering at the Lake Lanier Islands Legacy Lodge on July 30.
The gathering also highlighted the endorsement of an additional 13 Georgia sheriff’s for Collins, making a total of 41 Georgia sheriff’s that have endorsed Collins in his Senate run for the seat currently held by Loeffler.
“It’s more than just simply saying, I support law enforcement, for me, it’s about actually doing something and that’s what we’ve been doing in Congress and that’s what we’re going to continue to do in this campaign trail,” said Collins.
Collins alleged Loeffler’s lack of support for law enforcement by claiming she has been silent regarding Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard’s decision to prosecute two Atlanta police officers charged in the killing of Rayshard Brooks in June.
“Senator Loeffler fails to stand up and say anything about Paul Howard, he should be removed,” said Collins. “Why does she not say anything when we see the ICE facility destroyed as we saw just the other day?”
Collins then changed course to defend himself against a recent advertisement from the Loeffler campaign questioning Collins’s practices as a former criminal defense attorney.
“What’s even more despicable is when you run an ad with three Hispanic faces which I never was actually their attorney,” said Collins. “What it tells me is Senator Loeffler would rather scare people than actually deal with the issues of law enforcement.”
Collins took time to field questions from reporters about other recent news, as well, including his reaction to the July 30 death of former candidate for president and radio talk show host Herman Cain.
“[Herman’s] been a voice for many in the conservative movement, it’s a sad day that we’ve lost Herman,” said Collins. “Herman’s voice is going to be missed…that idea that you can start anywhere and become anything is this country, was something that he always talked about.”
Collins also responded to President Donald Trump’s July 30 tweet suggesting that the November election be postponed due to the possibility for voter fraud by mail-in ballots.
“I think President Trump is very frustrated with a lot of what he’s hearing from the left…I don’t think he really wants to move the election, I think he’s just wanting to point out the fact that we have a lot of issues in our elections and we have a lot of people that are willing to take advantage of those elections,” said Collins.
In response to issues with the June 9 election and concerns for the state election in November, Collins praised the overall election process in the state of Georgia.
Collins referenced the numerous ways citizens can vote, whether mail-in, absentee, early voting or day of, and suggested that issues with voting need to be addressed in the areas where they take place.
“I think what we’re doing in Georgia works, we just gotta work on the counties and how do we get that better on the actual day of,” said Collins.
Until Election Day, Collins said that his campaign will focus on his primary reason for running, which is to protect the future of Georgia.
“The ones that are standing in this room 25 years from now, I think are gonna look back and say, ‘who was fighting for us?’ when our cities burned and law enforcement was made fun of, who actually stood up and said, ‘we have to have civil protests or we have to do it properly?’,” said Collins.
