diff --git a/.changelog/25432.txt b/.changelog/25432.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c989003e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/25432.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:bug
+csi: Fixed a bug where GC would attempt and fail to delete plugins that had volumes
+```
diff --git a/nomad/core_sched.go b/nomad/core_sched.go
index ec3d4f020..ca25abcb4 100644
--- a/nomad/core_sched.go
+++ b/nomad/core_sched.go
@@ -833,6 +833,9 @@ func (c *CoreScheduler) csiPluginGC(eval *structs.Evaluation, customThreshold *t
 
 	for i := iter.Next(); i != nil; i = iter.Next() {
 		plugin := i.(*structs.CSIPlugin)
+		if !plugin.IsEmpty() {
+			continue
+		}
 
 		// Ignore new plugins
 		mt := time.Unix(0, plugin.ModifyTime)
diff --git a/nomad/core_sched_test.go b/nomad/core_sched_test.go
index bc2730642..e7bf1ff31 100644
--- a/nomad/core_sched_test.go
+++ b/nomad/core_sched_test.go
@@ -2346,6 +2346,10 @@ func TestCoreScheduler_CSIPluginGC(t *testing.T) {
 	index++
 	must.NoError(t, store.UpsertJob(structs.MsgTypeTestSetup, index, nil, job))
 
+	snap, err = store.Snapshot()
+	must.NoError(t, err)
+	core = NewCoreScheduler(srv, snap)
+
 	// Retry
 	index++
 	gc = srv.coreJobEval(structs.CoreJobCSIPluginGC, index)
diff --git a/nomad/fsm.go b/nomad/fsm.go
index 71f4b2fbf..6f735f94d 100644
--- a/nomad/fsm.go
+++ b/nomad/fsm.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 package nomad
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"reflect"
@@ -1385,7 +1386,7 @@ func (n *nomadFSM) applyCSIPluginDelete(buf []byte, index uint64) interface{} {
 	if err := n.state.DeleteCSIPlugin(index, req.ID); err != nil {
 		// "plugin in use" is an error for the state store but not for typical
 		// callers, so reduce log noise by not logging that case here
-		if err.Error() != "plugin in use" {
+		if !errors.Is(err, structs.ErrCSIPluginInUse) {
 			n.logger.Error("DeleteCSIPlugin failed", "error", err)
 		}
 		return err