Republican Rep. Mike Collins has fired a top aide to his Senate campaign after he made a crude remark about a woman who accused former NBC host Matt Lauer of rape.
The controversy erupted Friday after Luke Thompson, an adviser working for the Republican Derek Dooley’s campaign, shared polling that showed Collins’ lead in the GOP primary in Georgia had narrowed.
“48 hours later, and the Collins lead has cut in half,” Thompson wrote on X. “Dooley beats [Democratic Sen. Jon] Ossoff. Collins can’t. Not hard to understand.”
A “Mike Collins War Room” account run by his campaign fired back with a since-deleted response, “Matt Laurer’s [sic] sloppy seconds chiming in to take an L.”
The exchange quickly went viral. The Georgia-based political reporter Greg Bluestein pointed out that Thompson’s wife had previously accused Lauer of rape and later attempted suicide.
The post was deleted, but screenshots spread quickly. Collins then announced that he had fired his campaign aide, Brandon Phillips.
“Earlier today, a campaign advisor sent out a despicable and unauthorized Twitter comment using a Team Collins campaign account,” Collins said in a statement. “The statement was made without my knowledge or approval and in no way represents or reflects my values or the values of this campaign.”
He added that staffing changes had been made “to ensure this type of behavior never happens again.”
Phillips had already drawn scrutiny before his abrupt exit.
Earlier this year, the Daily Mail reported allegations that Collins’ chief of staff hired his girlfriend as an intern and paid her more than $10,000 despite claims she rarely appeared for work.
A Collins spokesperson denied those allegations at the time and dismissed the claims as the work of “disgruntled” former staffers.
The controversy also arrives at a delicate moment for Collins’ campaign. The Georgia Republican recently advanced to a runoff against Dooley, keeping alive his bid to challenge Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in the general election.
Collins’ campaign did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
