Kellie Collins, a former Georgia congressional candidate who was affiliated with the Democratic Party, is accused of murdering her campaign treasurer.
The former candidate – whose full name is Kellie Lynn Collins – stepped down from the campaign for unspecified personal reasons in 2017, the year before the homicide charge was filed. She once ran in a congressional race against Republican incumbent Jody Hice and accused the Republican Party of targeting “all” women, minorities, members of the LGBT community and disabled people “as lesser sections of society.” She also referred to Donald Trump as an “unqualified demagogue.”
She once told the website GirlsReallyRule: “When your friends and family are depending on you to make ethical decisions that affect their lives for many years, a member of Congress should hold her or himself to a much higher standard than the bare minimum that many GOP members are currently using as a benchmark.”
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Curt Cain Was Discovered Shot to Death & Collins Was Reportedly Living With Him
Curt Cain
The victim was identified as Curt Cain, 41.
The murder occurred at a home in Aiken, South Carolina. According to The Augusta Chronicle, Cain was shot to death. Clayborn Thigpen, the former campaign manager for Kellie Collins, told the newspaper that Cain and Collins were living together, and he was shocked by the accusations.
A motive was not released. Cain was found deceased after his employer asked for a welfare check, according to the newspaper. Kellie Collins was charged with murder and grand larceny.
The Aiken Standard reported that it’s believed Cain died on August 4, 2018.
Police said it’s possible the pair was married. Cain was listed as Collins’ campaign treasurer by OpenSecrets.org, which reported that Collins had raised very little money in the race.
2. Collins Once Ran as a Democrat for a Seat in the 10th Congressional District
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According to Ballotpedia, Kellie Collins was a candidate for the 10th Congressional District in Georgia but dropped out of the race before the election. The Augusta Chronicle confirmed that she ran as a Democrat.
RedandBlack reports that the 10th Congressional District in Georgia encompasses at least in part, “more than 20 counties, as well as the cities of Athens, Milledgeville, Watkinsville and Winder.” The incumbent is Jody Hice.
A July 2017 article on the RedandBlack site reported that Kellie Lynn Collins was dropping out of the race for personal reasons, but it wasn’t more specific. Collins’ campaign website is no longer up.
3. Collins Said She Was Running for Congress to Help the Community
Kellie Collins
When she was a congressional candidate, Kellie Collins gave an interview to the website GirlsReallyRule and explained why she was running for public office.
“I have always tried to help my community through my lifetime, but I had a bit of an epiphany when the 2016 election showed how little the public voice is heard (especially in the US House of Representatives) by our elected government,” she told the site. She was bothered that Hice, a Republican, ran unopposed in 2016.
According to the Aiken Standard, Cain, in addition to being the campaign treasurer for Collins, worked for a company named Swiss Krono. His blue Subaru Legacy was missing from the scene. The newspaper reported that Cain was a member of the local Democratic Party who was close to finishing his MBA.
On LinkedIn, Cain described himself as “a versatile performer with a track record for optimizing production operations through strong technical, reporting, and relationship management skills. Prepared to excel at program or operations management position where creative nature and knowledge gained from Bachelor of Arts in Psychology can be effectively utilized in combination with business knowledge and experience.”
He wrote that he was a contributing writer to Millennial Politics who had also worked as a warehouse coordinator.
4. Collins, Who Was Born in Georgia, Wanted Health Care for All & Accused the GOP of Targeting ‘All Women’ & Minorities
Kellie Collins
Collins was born and raised near Thomson, Georgia. She outlined her congressional platform to the GirlsReallyRule website, saying she wanted to make sure all residents had healthcare.
She also advocated improving public schools and opposed eliminating the Department of Education. She spoke in favor of providing “an actual living wage” for residents and touted solar and biodiesel energy.
Collins also spoke in favor of bringing more Hollywood film productions to Georgia. “The GOP is targeting all women, minorities, members of the LGBT community and disabled people as lesser sections of society and you can see it in the bills they have passed and are attempting to pass so far in 2017,” she told GirlsReallyRule. “…My real-life experiences with struggling to make ends meet, facing discrimination at work and school, and growing in the 10th District have equipped me to empathize with all constituents-even those who will not vote for me.”
5. Collins called Trump an ‘Unqualified Demagogue,’ Worked as a Model & Urged People to Protest Milo Yiannopoulos
Milo Yiannopoulos
According to an article on the SparxTribune website, Collins was “saved at the Boneville Methodist Church as a child.” Throughout the years, she also attended the Thomson Presbyterian Church and Awana meetings at the Thomson Second Baptist Church. “She is now currently attending Camak Baptist Church,” the website reported.
According to the website, she felt that the electoral college failed the public during the 2016 presidential election because it failed to stop the election “from being won by a unqualified demagogue and on this last occasion, that is exactly what they allowed to happen.”
The website said she had obtained an administrative business diploma and was close to finishing her degree, with plans to get a bachelor’s degree in political science.
The site added that Collins had worked as a model and entrepreneur. She said in that article that she felt that the Democratic Party leadership had lost touch with working people and needed to do more than simply resist Donald Trump. She criticized violence at Milo Yiannopoulos speeches on college campuses but added that she hoped “many more protesters show up at his next speaking engagement and let him know their displeasure in a vocal but nonviolent manner.”
She stressed of Milo that she had “nothing good to say about Milo Yiannopoulos or anything he stands for or in which he believes.”