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Actor

1966-08-16 · Gainesville, Georgia, U.S. · Male

2 series in the catalog

Douglas Allen Collins (born August 16, 1966) is an American government official and politician serving as the 12th United States secretary of veterans affairs since February 2025. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the U.S. representative for Georgia's 9th congressional district from 2013 to 2021 and in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007 to 2013, representing the 27th district, which includes portions of Hall County, Lumpkin County, and White County. Collins has served as a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve since 2002, and was promoted to colonel in 2023.

After Johnny Isakson resigned from the Senate, Collins announced he would run in the November 2020 special election to complete his term. He finished in third place in the state's nonpartisan blanket primary, behind Democrat Raphael Warnock and incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler, failing to make it to the top-two runoff election. Collins was succeeded by Andrew Clyde in the House. After leaving office, Collins served as a legal counsel for Donald Trump.

On November 14, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Collins as the United States secretary of veterans affairs. Collins was confirmed by the United States Senate to the office on February 4, 2025, by a vote of 77–23, and took office the next day.

Early life and education

Collins was born in Gainesville, Georgia. His father was a Georgia State Trooper for over 30 years. Collins is a graduate of North Hall High School. He attended North Georgia College & State University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in political science and criminal law in 1988. He attended the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, receiving his Master of Divinity (M.Div.) in 1996. Collins also earned his Juris Doctor from Atlanta's John Marshall Law School in 2007.

Career

Collins worked as an intern for Georgia U.S. representative Ed Jenkins before working as a salesman, selling hazardous material safety products to Georgia's state and local governments. From 1994 to 2005, Collins was a senior pastor at Chicopee Baptist Church while co-owning a retail scrapbooking store with his wife, Lisa. Collins worked as a lawyer and has been a managing partner at the Collins and Csider law firm since 2010.

Military service

In the late 1980s, Collins served two years in the United States Navy as a navy chaplain. After the September 11 attacks, Collins joined the United States Air Force Reserve Command, where he presently serves as a chaplain (Colonel). As a member of the 94th Airlift Wing at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Georgia, Collins was deployed to Balad Air Base for five months in 2008 during the Iraq War.

Georgia House of Representatives (2007–2013)

Elections

Collins served three terms in the Georgia House of Representatives, representing Georgia's 9th district from 2007 to 2013. After Republican incumbent state representative Stacey Reece decided he would run for the Georgia State Senate, Collins announced he would run for the vacated seat. He won both the primary and general elections unopposed. He was unopposed for reelection in 2008 and 2010.

Tenure

In 2011, Collins sponsored a plan proposed by Georgia governor Nathan Deal to reform Georgia's HOPE Scholarship program. The bill allowed for a 10% cut in scholarships and raised the level of SAT test scores and GPA required to obtain a scholarship, saving the state $300 million. Collins argued that the program would be insolvent without the cut, saying that "If you look at it at the end of the day, Georgia still leads the way in providing hope—educational hope—for those wanting to go on to post-secondary education." In 2012, he supported amending Georgia's constitution to establish a statewide commission authorizing and expanding charter schools.

In 2012, Collins signed a pledge sponsored by Americans for Prosperity promising to vote against any global warming-related legislation that would raise taxes.

Committee assignments

In the 2011–2012 legislative session, Collins was one of three administrative floor leaders for Georgia governor Nathan Deal. Collins served on the committees for:

House Appropriations (Secretary)

Judiciary Non-Civil

Public Safety & Homeland Security

Health & Human Services

Defense and Veterans Affairs

U.S. House of Representatives (2013–2021)

2012 election

In 2012, Collins ran for Congress in the redrawn 9th congressional district. The district's incumbent, Tom Graves, opted instead to run in the newly created 14th district, which had absorbed his home in Ranger. Collins faced local media personality Martha Zoller and retired principal Roger Fitzpatrick in the Republican primary. The 9th was the most Republican district in the Eastern Time Zone, with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+27. As a result, whoever won the Republican primary would almost certainly be the district's next representative in Congress.

Collins finished first in the primary with 42 percent of the total, but just 700 votes ahead of Zoller. Because neither had a majority, a runoff was held on August 21, 2012, and Collins defeated Zoller in that contest 55 percent to 45 percent. In the general election, Collins defeated Democrat Jody Cooley 76 percent to 24 percent.

2018 election

After running unopposed in the 2016 election, Collins faced Democratic challenger Josh McCall in the 2018 election. Collins overwhelmingly defeated McCall with 79.6% of the vote, compared to McCall's 20.4%.

Committee assignments

United States House Committee on Rules

United States House Committee on the Judiciary

Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet

Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and the Census

Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job Creation and Regulatory Affairs

Caucus memberships

U.S.-Japan Caucus

2020 U.S. Senate election

In January 2020, Collins announced his candidacy for the United States Senate. He ran in the special election held in November 2020 to complete the final two years of the term of retiring senator Johnny Isakson, who stepped down on December 31, 2019, citing health issues. Collins faced incumbent senator Kelly Loeffler, a Republican appointed by Georgia governor Brian Kemp to fill the seat until a special election was held. Trump had supported Collins as a replacement for Isakson.

Collins faced some initial resistance to his candidacy from senior Senate Republicans as well as from the Senate Leadership Fund (a political action committee aligned with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell) and from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, both of which backed Loeffler. Per Georgia election law, all candidates for that Senate seat (regardless of political party) competed in a nonpartisan blanket primary. If no candidate successfully earned over 50% of the vote, the top two finishers would participate in a runoff election in January 2021.

After both Collins, who finished third in the primary, and Trump lost their respective races in Georgia, they made claims about fraud in the Georgia elections. Georgia's Republican secretary of state Brad Raffensperger called Collins a "liar" and "charlatan" for his statements. Collins endorsed Loeffler in the runoff election following his primary defeat.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs (2025–present)

Nomination and confirmation

On November 14, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced his nomination of Collins to serve as U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs in the second Trump administration. Collins' nomination was endorsed by the Wounded Warrior Project, AMVETS, Blinded Veterans Association, Military-Veterans Advocacy, National Defense Committee, Burn Pits 360, Wounded Paw Project, Mission Roll Call, Armed Forces Retirees Association, Heroes Athletic Association, Mission: POW/MIA, Jewish War Veterans of the USA, 75th Ranger…