State Rep. Houston Gaines is in many ways a prototypical House candidate — the 36-year-old Georgia native has served in the Statehouse since 2019, and quickly jumped into the race to replace Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), who is running for Senate, picking up the backing of President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

But he faces a potentially potent challenge in Tuesday’s GOP primary from Ryan Millsap, a real estate and film industry executive who is pumping $4 million of his own money into his congressional bid and made a name for himself locally in a protracted legal battle against far-left agitators who camped out on his land to protest a proposed police training center.

The race has turned into a nasty — and heated — battle between the two men.

Gaines is leaning on his background in the state Legislature in his run, arguing to Jewish Insider in an interview that “we need folks in Congress who know how to get things done” and that he’s “proven in my time in the state Legislature” that he delivers results on a variety of issues. He emphasized his focus on public safety issues and immigration, as well as supporting farmers and the Second Amendment.

The solidly Republican district includes parts of suburban Atlanta, as well as the college town of Athens and rural areas in northeast Georgia.

Millsap told JI in an interview that his interest in running for office started with his “five-year war with Antifa.” Far-left agitators set up camp and destroyed property on Millsap’s land next to a police training facility site, with which Millsap was not involved, known derisively to critics as “Cop City.” He said that elected officials refused to take action against the trespassers out of fear of violence.

“We can’t just sit around as a society and let violent criminals rule our political process and take over our lands because we’re afraid of violence,” Millsap told JI. “That is capitulation to a bullying enemy. … I found that the career politicians were largely spineless, feckless and unwilling to take any risks because they don’t want to risk their careers.”

He said the demonstrators have also graffitied his house and threatened his wife. He said his goal in running for Congress is to prevent the far-left from overrunning the country.

Millsap accused the Republican “cabal” of smearing him to “protect their rubber stamp candidate” — Gaines — a “30-year-old kid who didn’t have any real life experience.”

He also argued that Trump’s endorsement hasn’t been decisive in the district in the past, and suggested that the president’s support for Gaines was a “political deal that was negotiated by Speaker Johnson and the RINO [Republican in Name Only] cabal in Congress” because Johnson “doesn’t want to deal with Ryan Millsap.”

Gaines argued that Millsap is trying to misrepresent his legislative record, and framed the executive as a carpetbagger from California who until recently cast himself as a moderate Republican who had donated to Democrats. “This guy is trying to cover up and hide all the things that he’s done, and some of the things that he has said are just horrific,” Gaines said.

Gaines was referring to comments — some of which were reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and ProPublica in 2024 — in which Millsap allegedly complained about “nasty Jews,” among other disparaging remarks about Jewish business associates, and other racist comments. 

Those remarks, from alleged texts between Millsap and his ex-girlfriend, were revealed as part of litigation involving a former lawyer for Millsap’s company, who also claimed Millsap made a range of other antisemitic and offensive comments in the workplace.

“It’s just horrific,” Gaines told JI. “It’s just totally unacceptable for someone in public life. As a Christian, I’ll always stand against antisemitism and what my opponent has said is just, in my opinion, disqualifying.”

At the time of the original AJC/ProPublica reporting, Millsap appeared to acknowledge the veracity of the text messages — as did his ex-girlfriend — and apologized in a statement, while emphasizing that he had won the case against his former lawyer, received punitive damages and planned to file a formal complaint against the lawyer.

“Unfortunately, in the course of this litigation, comments which I never intended to share publicly have come to light, and people I care about and who have put their trust in me have been hurt. I want to extend my sincere apologies to my dear friends, colleagues and associates in both the black and Jewish communities for any and all pain my words have caused,” he said at the time. “My sincere hope is that the bonds and friendships that we have forged speak far louder than some flippant, careless remarks. I intend to work privately with all of you to use this as an opportunity to have a healthy and authentic dialogue about race and culture, in a productive, not destructive, manner.”

Millsap now argues that the alleged comments may have been fabricated by his former lawyer, and that their veracity can’t be taken at face value.

“The guy who is responsible for creating all of this supposed mess is a disgraced attorney of mine who tried to extort me for $24 million, was sued because of that and now owes me close to $6 million,” he said. “Everything he claims as hearsay is utterly fabricated and false.”

Regarding the text messages, Millsap said that he has “no recollection of anything like this,” but his public relations team at the time urged him to issue an apology. He said has found out since then that “we have no idea where this data came from, we have no idea of if it’s real or false,” adding that “it just appears like it’s whole-cloth creation” by his ex-lawyer.

Pressed on why neither he nor his ex-girlfriend denied or questioned the veracity of the messages at the time, Millsap said, “these are very old claims and I am not antisemitic.” But he appeared to acknowledge he could have made those or similar comments, in a different context.

“I’ve been doing business with Jewish friends and colleagues, and I’m married to a Jewish woman,” he continued. “But in the midst of all of life, would we ever say anything that somebody could take out of context and try to twist? I’m not willing to say that that’s absolutely impossible, but in the context that it’s being used, it’s absolutely impossible. I’m not antisemitic. I’m not against Jewish people.”

He said that he’s had “nothing but great experiences” throughout his life with Jewish friends and colleagues, but said that it’s “not impossible” that he might have “joke[d] with them.”

“Have I ever had any bad experiences in business with all kinds? Yes. And would there be any context under which I might refer to having bad experiences? Sure. But these particular texts are not credible,” he continued.

He also framed the article in ProPublica, a left-leaning nonprofit investigative journalism group, as part of a long-running far-left campaign against him tied to the police training complex protest.

More broadly, Millsap said there is “no place in America for people to be abused for their religion” and that he is willing to “go to the mat for Jewish people” to worship as they choose. 

Gaines said he’s “proud” of supporting antisemitism legislation in the state Legislature, of working with local groups combating antisemitism and of championing legislation to force greater disclosure of foreign funding to Georgia schools, which he said has sought to force anti-Israel and anti-Jewish messages into school curricula.

He called Israel one of the U.S.’ “strongest allies” and said that he would stand with Israel in Congress, as he said he has in the state Legislature. He praised Trump’s “bold and decisive action to decimate” Iran’s nuclear capacity, regime and other aggressions. He called slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “one of the worst people in the history of the world” but said there are “still a lot of bad folks in Iran” against whom he is glad the administration had continued to take action.

Amid the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, he praised Trump’s peacemaking efforts, while emphasizing that an Iranian nuclear weapon or continued sponsorship of terrorism “[is] not peace.” He said he also wants to ensure that Israel does not face “constant threat on every single border, because that’s not peace.” He expressed confidence that the administration would be able to secure favorable solutions to both challenges.

Millsap praised Israel as “a bunch of studs,” describing the country as “filled with fighters, guys who are committed to their homeland and committed to defending their homeland,” something he said the U.S. and Israel share in common.

“When we combine as a force, we are unstoppable. You see that in Iran,” he continued. “We’re very, very lucky, and I think Israel is lucky too. It’s a special, beautiful relationship between two countries that value their own cultures and value their own freedoms and are willing to be great allies and [work] together to protect each other. That’s all you can ask for in an ally.”

Millsap said he has visited Israel several times, including a monthlong backpacking trip at age 20, and has done business deals with Israeli businessmen. He said he supports continued military aid to the Jewish state.

He said Trump has “earned my trust” in military engagements, describing Iran as a longtime enemy of the U.S. and Israel. He said he does not want to see the war in Iran turn into a long-term “slog” but that he wants to see the U.S. move quickly to eliminate Iran’s nuclear capabilities and gain control over its oil flows to stop its support for terrorism and strike a blow against China, the primary importer of Iranian oil.

“If Trump pulls this off and secures all those things cleanly, it will turn out to be a stroke of genius that he went in, along with Israel, and pulled this off. It will be a hugely important geopolitical event that will shape global politics for the next 50 years,” Millsap said.