Overview
- A Daily Beast report published Wednesday and republished by other outlets identified two county convoy captains for Mike Collins as having leadership ties to American Patriots USA, a group started by Chester Doles.
- American Patriots USA was founded by Chester Doles, a long‑time white‑supremacist figure who once held Klan and neo‑Nazi roles and whose group is labeled a white nationalist hate organization by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
- The organizers named are Michael Boggus, who served as the group's Georgia director and led Banks County operations for Collins, and Joshua Mote, who served as vice president of the group and as Collins's Hall County captain; Mote denied being racist and said he left the group, while Boggus did not respond to the newest questions.
- The disclosures add to earlier controversies for Collins, including CNN reporting this year on antisemitic posts tied to his son‑in‑law and racist posts by a former intern, and drew a public condemnation from Sen. Jon Ossoff calling the ties disqualifying.
- Collins's campaign said it did not know of the organizers' past associations and praised its wider network of more than 800 convoy captains, but the reports create fresh questions about vetting, could shape debate line‑of‑attack for Democrats, and may affect voter perceptions ahead of the election.