Ossoff says he has

Incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff and his Republican challenger, Rep. Mike Collins, continued trading both personal and political attacks on Tuesday night as the politicians fought over the war with Iran, rising costs and the 2020 election results in a heated debate for who will represent Georgia in the Senate.

The debate, part of the Atlanta Press Club Loudermilk-Young Debate Series, is the second and last exchange between the two Georgia lawmakers ahead of the midterm elections and comes on the same day as early voting started in the state.

Both candidates continued the messaging in the first debate, with Collins repeating his allegation that Ossoff is an out-of-touch politician who cares more about online attention than everyday Georgians.

Ossoff criticized the Republican lawmaker for what he called "widely documented and completely disqualifying ties to white nationalism and neo-Nazi ideology," and called Collins "an example of the Washington establishment."

"Congress is full of congressmen's sons who are only in Congress because their daddies were congressmen, just like Mike Collins, who are perfectly happy to send other people's children to die in war," he said. (Collins' father, Mac Collins, represented Georgia in the House for six terms ending in 2005.)

"Jon Ossoff, the only thing he knows about work is working the ATM machine, getting his granddaddy's money out of it," he said.

Asked if he would support an impeachment effort, Ossoff did not give a specific yes-or-no answer, but he said that Mr. Trump's "misconduct, abuse of power and corruption already exceed any prior standard for impeachment."

When asked about being a presidential contender in 2028, Ossoff said he isn't planning on running and committed to a full six-year term. Ossoff also said in August that he isn't interested.

In response, Ossoff argued that Collins voted to cover up government records on Epstein during his time in Congress, referring to a set of unsuccessful votes to release the Epstein files in the summer of 2025. A bill to release the files ultimately passed late last year by a near-unanimous margin after Mr. Trump backed the legislation.

Collins said that he did vote to release the files, emphasized Ossoff's connection to Hoffman again and said the "call's coming from inside the house."

"You count the legal votes that were cast in the state of Georgia, Donald Trump won this state. Period," he said in one ad, in which he held a long gun and bemoaned the "federal hijacking" of the 2020 election. He concluded with shooting a mock voting machine.

When pressed by Ossoff later, he said that "everybody [has] seen my views on that. They know my views on that."