When Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) tweeted out "Next stop: U.S. Senate." on Thursday morning, he was talking about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act advancing from the U.S. House of Representatives and heading to the Senate for debate. But, as new polling shows, he might have a really good reason to think about making the Senate chamber his own next stop.

The poll, conducted May 15-17 by polling and analytics firm Cygnal of voters from the 2024 general election, shows Collins clocking in at 43.3 percent compared to incumbent Democrat Senator Jon Ossoff's 45.7 percent. Or, as one of Collins' staffers tweeted, "within striking distance" of beating first-termer Ossoff, whose seat is widely seen as the most vulnerable in next year's midterm Senate elections. 

🚨🚨NEW POLL: @MikeCollinsGA within striking distance of Jon Ossoff in latest #GASEN poll. Has highest level of definite support among Republicans. #gapol pic.twitter.com/FO0MvDD8gS

— Corbin Keown (@keown_corbin) May 22, 2025

RedState's own Adam Turner did a nice write up Wednesday on the challenges and opportunities for Republicans in the 2026 Senate contests. Here was Adam's take on Georgia:

Georgia: Jon Ossoff / 50.62% D / Tilt D

Ossoff is very endangered, but he has raised $11 million, a huge amount of early money for this race, and his most dangerous potential opponent, Gov. Brian Kemp, has declined to challenge him. Rep. Buddy Carter has launched a campaign, as well as a lower-level statewide official named John King. Others may join. Ossoff should have a narrow edge. The national environment will certainly matter in this race.

Two Republians who had previously been thought of as frontrunners, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, have both announced they will not be running for Ossoff's seat. So, it's game on.

This new Cygnal poll shows Republicans have several strong candidates to take on Ossoff, and Mike Collins is definitely up there at the top. A Trafalgar Group poll from April also indicated a favorable showing by Collins in a potential head-to-head matchup against Ossoff, so it's a safe bet that the gentleman from Georgia is giving strong consideration to throwing his hat into the ring.

MORE: An Update on the 2026 Senate Races

Ahead, Troll Factor 8! Rep. Mike Collins 'Corrects' Chris Van Hollen's Office Plaque

Some interesting things pop out when you dig deeper into the polling data from Cygnal. First off, Republicans outperform Democrats on the generic U.S. Senate ballot by 48.2 percent to 44.5 percent. When you consider that Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris in Georgia by 50.9 percent to 48.4 percent, the state is clearly fertile ground for conservative, pro-America policies. 

Another thing that works greatly in favor of Republicans is that two of the top three issues identified in the poll, behind the economy, are:

• Threats to democracy 
• Illegal immigration and border security

And it's Illegal immigration and border security where Mike Collins in particular has a chance to shine. Laken Riley, the Georgia nursing student who was murdered by an illegal immigrant in February of 2024, was Collins' constituent. Upon leaning of Laken's brutal death, he immediately called her family and promised this would never happen to another family. Thus, The Laken Riley Act was born and became the first piece of legislation signed by President Trump during his second term.

There's another thing that works greatly in Collins' favor: he has a sense of humor and he's not afraid to use it. During the contentious vote for Speaker of the House back in October of 2023, Collins proved to be some much-needed comic relief as his party wrangled with finding a new leader. He declared himself "Memer of Congress" and unleashed a torrent of memes to cut the tension, a practice he has kept up ever since. And, let's face it, the U.S. Senate could use a bit of levity.

RedState will, of course, bring you all the latest on this race.

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