Doug Collins Bio
Douglas Allen Collins (born August 16, 1966) is an American politician, attorney, and military chaplain who has served as the 12th United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs since February 2025. A member of the Republican Party, he has built a career that spans military service, the pulpit, the courtroom, and the halls of Congress. He previously represented Georgia’s 9th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2013 to 2021 and served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007 to 2013.
Early Life and Background
Douglas Allen Collins was born in Gainesville, Georgia, on August 16, 1966. He grew up in the same north Georgia community where he still lives today, the son of a Georgia State Trooper who served on the force for more than 30 years. That family background gave him a deep respect for public service from an early age.
Collins graduated from North Hall High School before going on to study at North Georgia College and State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science and criminal law in 1988. He later pursued theological training at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, receiving a Master of Divinity in 1996, and completed his legal education at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School, where he earned a Juris Doctor in 2007.
Path to US Politics
Before entering elected office, Collins built a varied professional life that combined ministry, business, and law. He interned in the office of Georgia U.S. representative Ed Jenkins and later worked as a salesman of hazardous material safety products to state and local governments. He served as senior pastor at Chicopee Baptist Church from 1994 to 2005, and he co-owned a retail scrapbooking store with his wife, Lisa.
In 2010, he became a managing partner at the Collins and Csider law firm. He was also commissioned as a chaplain in the United States Air Force Reserve in 2002 and was deployed to Balad Air Base in Iraq for five months in 2008, an experience that later shaped his focus on veterans’ issues. These combined roles in the military, ministry, and law laid the groundwork for his move into state and federal politics.
Doug Collins Career
Early Career (2007-2012)
Collins began his political career in the Georgia House of Representatives, representing the 27th district, which covers parts of Hall, Lumpkin, and White counties, from 2007 to 2013. He won both the primary and general elections in 2006 unopposed and was reelected without opposition in 2008 and 2010. During the 2011-2012 legislative session, he served as one of three administrative floor leaders for Governor Nathan Deal.
He gained early attention in 2011 by sponsoring Governor Deal’s plan to reform Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship program, a measure that trimmed scholarships by 10 percent, raised SAT and GPA requirements, and saved the state an estimated $300 million. In 2012, he also supported a constitutional amendment to establish a statewide commission that would expand charter schools across Georgia.
U.S. House of Representatives Breakthrough (2013-2021)
In 2012, Collins ran for the redrawn 9th congressional district of Georgia after incumbent Tom Graves moved to the new 14th district. Facing local media personality Martha Zoller and retired principal Roger Fitzpatrick in the Republican primary, Collins finished first with 42 percent of the vote and went on to defeat Zoller 55 percent to 45 percent in the runoff. He then won the general election against Democrat Jody Cooley by a 76 percent to 24 percent margin.
He served three terms in the U.S. House, running unopposed in 2014 and 2016 before easily defeating Democratic challenger Josh McCall with 79.6 percent of the vote in 2018. In Congress, Collins was an early defender of President Donald Trump, including during the impeachment inquiry over the Trump-Ukraine scandal, which he called a sham. In December 2020, he joined 126 Republican House members in signing an amicus brief supporting Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit that challenged the 2020 presidential election results.
2020 U.S. Senate Election Period
In January 2020, Collins announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by retiring Senator Johnny Isakson. He competed in a nonpartisan blanket primary against incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler, Democrat Raphael Warnock, and other candidates. Collins finished third in the primary and did not advance to the runoff, which Warnock ultimately won.
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Era (2025-Present)
On November 14, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Collins as the 12th United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs. His nomination was supported by a long list of veterans organizations, including the Wounded Warrior Project, AMVETS, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, and the Blinded Veterans Association. The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee advanced his nomination 18-1 on January 23, 2025, and the full Senate confirmed him 77-23 on February 4, 2025.
Collins was sworn into office on February 5, 2025, by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He served as the designated survivor during President Trump’s 2025 address to a joint session of Congress and again during the 2026 State of the Union Address. In his early months leading the department, he announced a plan to eliminate 72,000 positions, roughly 15 percent of department employees nationwide, while stating that healthcare and other critical workers would not be affected by the layoffs.
Notable Events and Milestones
One of the defining moments of Collins’ career came with his Senate confirmation as Secretary of Veterans Affairs, a role that tied together his long service as an Air Force Reserve chaplain, his deployment to Iraq, and his years advocating for veterans in Congress. His 77-23 confirmation reflected rare bipartisan support and made him the first Georgia politician in decades to lead a major federal department.
Doug Collins Family
Family Background and Public Service
Collins comes from a family with a strong tradition of public service. His father served as a Georgia State Trooper for more than 30 years, an experience that helped shape Collins’ respect for both military and law enforcement communities. That background helped guide his path into public service and later into the U.S. Air Force Reserve, where he was promoted to colonel in 2023.
Personal Life
Douglas Allen Collins married his wife, Lisa Jordan, in 1988. Lisa Collins is a retired fifth-grade teacher at Mount Vernon Elementary School in Gainesville, Georgia, where the couple resides. They have three children, one of whom has spina bifida, a family experience that has informed Collins’ advocacy for wounded and disabled veterans. Collins is a practicing Southern Baptist and attends Lakewood Baptist Church.