I manage a restaurant in Dunwoody, and have managed restaurants from Savannah all the way to Buford. I am in my twenties, I am Black, and I am told fairly often that I should already know who I am voting for. I did not make this decision from a script. I made it by reading votes.
Restaurants run on tips and hourly pay. When Washington passes a tax law, my staff feel it on the first paycheck of the year. In July 2025, Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill, which created new federal deductions for exactly that kind of income: up to $25,000 in reported tips and up to $12,500 in overtime pay, claimed on top of the standard deduction. The deductions run through 2028, and they put real money back in the pockets of hourly workers.
Congressman Mike Collins voted for that bill. Senator Jon Ossoff voted against it, along with every Senate Democrat. The Senate passed it on a 50-50 tie broken by the Vice President. That is how close it was, and Georgia's senator was on the other side, fighting to keep money OUT of our pockets.
Rent and homeownership are the other half of the equation for people my age. Mike Collins says he wants to ban large companies from buying up huge numbers of homes, which squeezes buyers and renters. He also wrote the PERMIT Act, a Clean Water Act permitting bill that passed the House in December and aims to cut the delays and costs that slow down construction. I want a senator who will help it move in the Senate.
Safety matters at my age too. Laken Riley was 22, a nursing student out for a run on the University of Georgia campus in 2024. The man convicted of killing her was in the country illegally and had been cited for shoplifting months earlier. Collins wrote the Laken Riley Act, and it became the first law Donald Trump signed in his second term. In June, Ossoff voted against the bill that funds ICE and Border Patrol, the agencies that carry out the law.
I know some people will wonder how someone like me ends up supporting a Republican. My answer is that nobody represents me by default. Whoever wants my vote has to earn it, and on the votes that touch my paycheck, my rent and my safety, Mike Collins has.
I will not pretend Mike Collins is perfect or that every Georgian will agree with me. I am asking for something simpler. Look at the votes, not the perfectly curated TV ads. They are public, and the Senate's vote on the One Big Beautiful Bill takes about two minutes to read.
Early voting begins October 13, and Election Day is November 3. I manage a restaurant, so I know what it is like to be judged on results. My future is brighter if Mike Collins is our Senator. I am voting for Mike.
For more than a decade, Andre Stafford has worked in the service industry and currently serves as a restaurant manager in Dunwoody, leading and mentoring a team of more than 100 employees.
