U.S. Senate Candidate and Representative for Georgia's 10th Congressional District Mike Collins has dismissed his chief of staff.

The controversial post

The dismissal was reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday. The post in question was a reply to political contributor Luke Thompson's post about polling numbers for the GOP Senate runoff.

"48 hours later and the Collins lead has cut in half. Dooley beats Ossoff. Collins can’t. Not hard to understand," Thompson's post read. In a screenshot of the now-deleted reply, the Mike Collins War Room account (@TeamOverhaulGA) replied saying "Matt Lauer's sloppy seconds chiming in to take an L."

For context, Thompson's wife came forward in 2017 along with other women accusing NBC host Matt Lauer of rape. Thompson's wife — Brooke Nevils — revealed in 2019 that she attempted suicide in the aftermath after the decision took a physical and emotional toll on her. She was a former NBC talent assistant.

Collins issues apology, Thompson responds

Collins has since issued an apology, calling the comment "despicable and unauthorized."

"The statement was made without my knowledge or approval and in no way represents or reflects my values or the values of this campaign. I want to apologize for this offensive tweet. I have made staffing changes to ensure this type of behavior never happens again," Collins' post read.

Thompson also replied, saying Collins surrounds himself with "unprofessional and incompetent cretins."

"This is not a team capable of holding its own against the Ossoff war chest. Just a deeply stupid group of low grade operators," Thompson's post read.

Staffer's previous ethics complaints

The AJC's reporting notes the staffer was Collins' Chief of Staff Brandon Phillips.

AccessWDUN reporting from January uncovered that Phillips was at the center of an ethics complaint that claims he hired his girlfriend to an internship with pay despite her never reporting for work. Additionally, there were allegations that Phillips may have misused Collins' Members' Representational Allowance (MRA) funds.

"Several witnesses—including current and former House staffers—expressed to the [Office of Congressional Conduct] concerns about possible retaliation for their cooperation with this review," the September 2025 report read. "Those concerns ranged from moderate concern about professional repercussions to strong fear of personal retaliation from Mr. Phillips. Multiple witnesses told the OCC that their fears of retaliation from Mr. Phillips stemmed at least in part from their awareness of public reporting of past violent criminal behavior by Mr. Phillips."

That "criminal behavior" the OCC referenced included a citation to a POLITICO article from 2022 claiming that Phillips had been arrested for kicking a dog.

Phillips is now ousted from Collins' team with just three and a half weeks to go before the runoff election against Derek Dooley.