Mac Collins
Michael Allen "Mac" Collins (born
October 15 1944),
American politician, was a
Republican member of the
United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 2005, representing the (previously from 1993 to 2003). He is a candidate for Congessman in 2006.
He was born in
Jackson, and began a concrete products business after graduating from high school, expanding it into a ready-mix concrete company two years later, when he joined the
Georgia National Guard. He later began a trucking company that is now run by his sons.
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 two unsuccessful runs for the
Georgia State Senate, he was elected in 1988 and served two terms there.
Collins entered the House as a result of the
1990s round of redistricting. Democrats in the Georgia state legislature, bent on getting rid of
Newt Gingrich, dismantled his old 6th District. They merged much of Gingrich's old territory with the 3rd District, which had been based in
Columbus and was represented by five-term incumbent
Richard Ray. However, the plan backfired. First, Gingrich moved to the newly drawn 6th, none of which he had previously represented, and easily won election there. Second, Collins defeated Ray in an upset. Collins was reelected five more times without another serious challenge, and even ran unopposed in
1998.
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. Collins' seat was filled by state House minority leader
Lynn Westmoreland.
Collins lived in the
Atlanta suburb of
Hampton during his first stint in Congress, but has moved back to Jackson, is running against Democratic Congressman
Jim Marshall. [
1] 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. This is one of the most competitive House races in the nation. Some think that Marshall hurt his chances when he voted against a Congressional resolution to condemn the radical Palestinian group Hamas. He seems to have made the matter worse by writing in The Macon Telegraph that he supports the United States negotiating with Hamas. Although others have pointed out that this is what many veteran diplomats have urged in order to maintain peace between Palestine and Israel, and that stonewalling Hamas is likely only making matters worse. Marshall has, however, made up for some of his more liberal votes on economic issues, by being highly conservative when it comes to social views, and environmental issues. Some believe the fact that Collins was one of the most conservative members of Congress during his tenure could provide Marshall with fodder for negative advertising in a district that is evenly divided in state races, the new district narrowly favored Roy Barnes and Max Cleland who both narrowly lost in 2002.
Collins is featured in
Congress at the Grassroots, a non-fiction account of representational change in the south authored by political science Professor
Richard F. Fenno of the
University of Rochester.
*
Official campaign website
