Republican Congressman Michael Guest is asking voters to judge him on his record as he seeks reelection to Congress this November.

But part of that record involves a debt collection business Guest owned before entering Congress.

Guest’s company, Mississippi Court Collections, Inc., used threats of arrest to intimidate people into paying court fines.

Using threats of government punishment to make a profit drew sharp criticism from legal experts.

But the arrangement also raised serious questions about conflicts of interest.

Guest was a public prosecutor while serving as president and half-owner of a business collecting court debt.

The company also added surcharges of 25 percent to fines owed by Mississippi residents and 50 percent for those living outside the state.

For people already struggling to pay, those high fees made a difficult situation even worse.

Guest tried to distance himself from the controversy, saying he wasn’t involved in the company’s day-to-day operations.

But by 2018, when Guest first ran for Congress, the company had collection contracts in more than 20 Mississippi counties.

Sadly, eight years into his congressional career, there is a troubling resemblance between that business model and his record in Washington.

Guest has repeatedly supported policies that place additional burdens on people who are already struggling.

For example, in 2025, he voted for legislation projected to strip millions of Americans of healthcare coverage and reduce food assistance.

The law is projected to leave poorer households with fewer resources while delivering substantial benefits to wealthier Americans.

And that wasn’t all.

Guest also voted to overturn a federal rule limiting overdraft fees at the nation’s largest banks.

Those fees often hit people whose bank accounts are already running low.

And that lack of compassion for the vulnerable makes Guest’s old debt collection business revealing.

People with money could simply pay and move on.

But Guest targeted people without money.

He attacked those among “the least of these,” people whom we are called to treat with fairness and compassion.

Instead, Guest used predatory tactics to profit off them.

Michael Guest now asks voters to judge him on his record.

And the fact that he unethically profited from predatory debt collection tactics is part of the record that voters should judge.