Georgia Tipsheet

Though 10th congressional district hopeful Stephen Simpson is being heavily outspent in the fundraising department, today marks a bit of good news with the announcement that former Georgia congressman Mac Collins will be joining the first-time candidate for the closing week of the campaign.

Per a campaign email blasted this morning by the Simpson campaign:

Stephen Simpson is proud to announce that he will be joined on the campaign trail in Jackson today by former Congressman Mac Collins. Stephen and Mac will begin their day at 7:00 am at a popular breakfast stop in Jackson…

“Stephen brings the right mix of leadership and experience to the people of the 10^thCongressional District” said Congressman Mac Collins.  ”Stephen understands that Washington no longer works for the people but seems more interested in rhetoric than results.  Stephen’s distinguished career in the military and in the private sector gives him the common sense and practical experience we need in our leaders. Stephen will work to reign-in bureaucratic regulations that stifle small business and cost our country jobs.”

This is not the first run-in Collins and Broun have had on opposite sides the campaign spectrum. Collins defeated Broun in the 1992 Republican primary for Georgia’s then-3rd congressional district seat. He was also rumored to have decided to challenge Broun himself this election cycle, but elected otherwise in mid-May. 

-Brandon Howell

Mac Collins made clear at the Georgia GOP convention this weekend he would forgo a primary challenge to incumbent U.S. Rep. Paul Broun (GA-10).

Collins, himself a member of Georgia’s Congressional delegation until 2005, said he was considering until just 10 days ago the prospect of returning to D.C.

But early and sustained broadsides by conservative advocacy groups may have weighed heavily on his calculus.

“Mac Collins voted to increase the debt limit four times, resulting in our national debt increasing by billions,” Chris Chocola, who steers the conservative Club for Growth, in a January research dump. “He voted for No Child Left Behind, and three times to raise his own pay. We don’t need another big government Republican in Congress like Mac Collins, we need more pro-growth fighters for limited government like Paul Broun.”

Even with the Club in his corner, Broun has still drawn a challenger: ex-Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Simpson — “a patriot, not a politician” his website reads — declared against the Athens Congressman in October last year.

Broun is slated to kick off his reelection bid next week with a 5-day, 25-county bus tour of the 10th. The wired launch begins Monday 8:30 at Athens coffee house Jittery Joe’s.

- James Richardson