Preceded by Saxby Chambliss Political party Republican Succeeded by Lynn Westmoreland Religion Methodist | Preceded by Richard Ray Name Mac Collins Succeeded by Jim Marshall Party Republican Party | |
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Born October 15, 1944 (age 79)
Jackson, Georgia ( 1944-10-15 ) Role Member of the United States House of Representatives | ||
Michael Allen Collins (born October 15, 1944), American politician, was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 2005, representing the Georgia's 8th congressional district (previously Georgia's 3rd congressional district from 1993 to 2003). He was an unsuccessful candidate for Senate in 2004.
Contents
- Early life
- Georgia politics and State Senator
- United States Congress
- 1992 campaign for United States House of Representatives
- 2004 United States Senate campaign
- 2006 campaign for United States House of Representatives
- References
Early life
Collins was born in Jackson, Georgia, and joined a concrete products business run by his father after graduating from high school, eventually expanding it into a ready-mix concrete company. He served in the Georgia Army National Guard from 1964 to 1970. He later began a trucking company that is now run by his sons.
Georgia politics and State Senator
He began his political career in 1977, when he was elected to the Butts County Commission. He was immediately elected chairman by his colleagues and served two terms, giving up his seat in 1980 when he switched his party affiliation from Democratic to Republican. After losing two elections for Georgia State Senate, he was elected in 1988 from a district in Henry County south of Atlanta and served two terms there.
United States Congress
In the United States House of Representatives he was a member of the Ways and Means Committee, Deputy Whip for the Republican Party, and was selected by the Speaker of the House to serve on the highly classified United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Collins was an advocate for tax reform, defense issues, veterans rights and prisoner-of-war families. He lost his role as Deputy Whip of the United States House of Representatives after the September 11 attacks in 2001 when he informed President George W. Bush that he would not support the creation of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
1992 campaign for United States House of Representatives
During the 1990s round of redistricting, Democrats in the Georgia state legislature, bent on getting rid of Newt Gingrich, dismantled his old 6th District. The new map shifted much of Gingrich's former territory south of Atlanta—including Collins' home—to the 3rd District, which at the time was based in Columbus and represented by five-term Democrat Richard Ray.
Collins immediately jumped into the race. He defeated Paul Broun (who would later be elected to Congress from the 10th District) in the Republican primary and then defeated Ray in the general election by almost 10 points. Collins was reelected with 65 percent of the vote in 1994 and four more times after that with virtually no difficulty, even running unopposed in 1998.
2004 United States Senate campaign
In 2004, Collins was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for the Georgia Senate seat left vacant by the retirement of Democratic Senator Zell Miller, which went to Johnny Isakson. In order to participate in this race, Collins declined to run for re-election to the House. Collins' seat was filled by state House minority leader Lynn Westmoreland.
2006 campaign for United States House of Representatives
In 2006, Collins moved back to Butts County and made an attempt to return to Congress against Democrat Jim Marshall. Marshall's redrawn district includes none of the territory Collins represented in his first five terms, but three counties that he represented in his last term. It made for one of the most competitive House races in the nation. Collins lost again, by only 1,100 votes.