Mike Collins’ RNC Speech: Honoring Laken Riley’s Legacy Amidst Ossoff’s Woke Agenda

• September 10, 2026

Rep. Mike Collins is pictured in a suit and speaks at a podium during the Republican National Convention, with REPUBLICAN CONVENTION and 2028 visible on a screen in the background, and an audience in a darkened arena.

Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., speaks on stage on the first day of the 2026 Republican National Committee Midterm Convention at the American Airlines Center on Sept. 9, 2026, in Dallas. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Rep. Mike Collins, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate, centered his speech last night at the Republican National Committee’s Midterm Convention on the Laken Riley Act and described Sen. Jon Ossoff’s “far-left agenda.”

Joining Collins was Laken Riley’s family.

Riley, an Augusta University nursing student, was murdered in 2024 by an illegal immigrant who had been captured and released by federal and local authorities. Collins authored the legislation named in her honor, in the hopes of preventing other families from suffering a similar fate.

The Laken Riley Act mandates that the Department of Homeland Security detain illegal aliens who have been arrested for certain crimes.

After the screens showed a memorial video honoring Riley’s life, Collins walked on stage, saying, “Laken Riley’s tragic murder was a deliberate decision, a decision by an illegal criminal who had no remorse or caring for Laken, and a decision by my Senate opponent Jon Ossoff and every single Democrat to open our borders, bring lawlessness to our communities, and deliver pain and suffering to the American people.”

The congressman continued by saying that he tried to work with Ossoff to honor Riley’s legacy, but said, “He wouldn’t lift a finger to help me. He forgot her name until it was politically convenient.”

Collins noted that the Laken Riley Act “was the first bill that President [Donald] Trump signed into law when he got back into office,” and because of the legislation, more than “20,000 criminal illegal aliens are off our streets, behind bars, or back where they came from.”

He added that Americans should be able to count on their representatives to not “cower to the woke mob.”

Returning to his focus to Ossoff, he said that “Jon Ossoff is too scared to vote with conviction. … That’s why he voted against our farmers by shutting down the government, to defund ICE and protect illegal aliens, voted against women to put men in girls’ locker rooms, restrooms, and women’s domestic violence shelters, voted against our veterans and then lied.”

“He’s a man too weak and too vain to stand up for what’s right. Hiding behind his makeup is a coward.”

Collins added that “Jon Ossoff is right there with Hasan Piker, Bernie Sanders, and the rest of the radicals who want to tear our country apart from the inside out.”

In closing, Collins said that as senator, he will “be a U.S. senator that will put the values and needs of our state first every day.”

Rebecca Buis | Georgia Correspondent

Rebecca Buis is the Georgia Correspondent for the Daily Signal.

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