JACKSON, GA \u2013 Republican Rep. Mike Collins, who is running as a MAGA champion and strong supporter of President Donald Trump, has won a competitive and combustible battle for the GOP Senate nomination in Georgia that went into overtime.
\nThe Trump-backed Collins on Tuesday defeated former college football coach Derek Dooley in the Republican runoff election, the Associated Press reports, and will face Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in November\u2019s election in a race that\u2019s among a handful that will likely decide if the GOP holds its slim majority in the chamber in this autumn\u2019s midterm elections.
\nRepublicans view Ossoff as the most vulnerable Senate Democrat seeking re-election and are heavily targeting the first-term senator.
\nCollins, a two-term federal lawmaker who represents Georgia\u2019s 10th Congressional District, which is located between Atlanta and Augusta, is the son of the late Rep. Mac Collins, and is the founder and co-owner, along with his wife, of a trucking company.
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He and Dooley, a lawyer, a former University of Tennessee football coach and the son of legendary University of Georgia head football coach Vince Dooley, were the top two finishers in a crowded field of candidates that also included Rep. Buddy Carter. But since no one topped 50% in last month\u2019s primary, Collins and Dooley advanced to Tuesday\u2019s runoff election.
\nWhile Collins showcased his MAGA credentials and support for the president, Trump remained neutral in the Georgia primary and runoff elections for Senate until Saturday night.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s an honor to have that endorsement. It just shows that he has confidence that we know how to win this race, we know we\u2019re in the lead in this thing,\u201d Collins told Fox News Digital on Sunday, hours after landing Trump\u2019s endorsement.
\nAsked if Trump\u2019s endorsement in Georgia came too late to make a difference, Collins said, \u201cI don\u2019t think President Trump ever is too late. He has this impeccable ability of putting his thumb right on the scale at the right time with whatever he wants to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dooley, meanwhile, was strongly backed by lifelong friend and popular conservative Gov. Brian Kemp, who is term-limited. Kemp and his wife, Georgia first lady Marty Kemp, regularly appeared with Dooley on the campaign trail and the governor\u2019s top political advisor was a senior consultant for Dooley\u2019s Senate bid.
\nDooley, who ran as an outsider, said in a Fox News Digital interview on the eve of the runoff that the president\u2019s backing of his rival \u201cdoesn\u2019t change how I feel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m honored to have Governor Kemp\u2019s endorsement. I certainly would have been honored to have the President\u2019s endorsement. But the most important endorsement that I\u2019m fighting for is the people of Georgia,\u201d he emphasized.
\nDooley emphasized his outsider image and he targeted Collins as a political insider.
\nDooley told Fox News Digital voters \u201care fed up with what\u2019s going on in Congress. They\u2019re fed up with the careerism, the corruption, the inaction. And it\u2019s time we get sent a different kind of leader up there to change business as usual in D.C.\u201d<\/p>\n
Collins criticized Dooley for a lack of political experience and for living outside of Georgia for much of his adult life.
\n\u201cNot having a record is not gonna win this thing. But having a records of results will,\u201d Collins told supporters on the eve of the runoff.\u00a0
\nBoth candidates had some political baggage.
\nThe House Ethics Committee looked into Collins over allegations he paid an intern in a district office who had a romantic relationship with his congressional chief of staff but who did not actually perform any work. Collins denied any wrongdoing and kept the staffer on his Senate campaign.
\nBut the staffer was later fired by Collins after taking to social media on behalf of the campaign to mock the wife of a Dooley campaign advisor who attempted suicide after accusing Matt Lauer of rape. The social media post was deleted and Collins apologized, calling the tweet \u201cdespicable and unauthorized.\u201d
\nDooley, over the past week, was reportedly accused of being part of a \u201cpay-to-play\u201d scandal involving brother Daniel Dooley and the governor. Dooley and Kemp have denied any wrongdoing, but Democrats in the legislature requested an independent investigation.<\/p>\n
While the Republicans have been battling for their party\u2019s nomination over the past year, Ossoff has built a powerful war chest that will give him a major fundraising advantage as the general election gets underway.
\n\u201cI know how to win this race. I look forward to getting the governor\u2019s endorsement. I look forward to getting his help in this thing. I look forward to getting Derrick Dooley\u2019s help in this thing,\u201d Collins said when asked by Fox Digital if he could unite Republican voters in the general election.\u00a0
\nCollins emphasized that \u201cat the end of the day, we\u2019re all Republicans, and we\u2019re on one mission, and that is to put a Republican in that seat and get somebody that represents\u2026the state of Georgia.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the top super PAC supporting Democratic Senate candidates and aligned with longtime Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer quickly took aim at Collins following his nomination victory.
\n\u201cMike Collins is an opposition researcher\u2019s dream. He treats Congress like a money-making scheme for his family business, an ethics-free zone, and a conspiracy theory clearinghouse \u2013 sometimes all in the same week. This unelectable nepo baby doesn\u2019t have what it takes to beat Jon Ossoff,\u201d Senate Majority PAC spokesperson Lauren French argued.
\nMinutes later, Ossoff also targeted his general election challenger.
\n\u201cDonald Trump\u2019s handpicked candidate Mike Collins is a notorious bigot, antisemite, and extremist currently under federal investigation for the illegal misuse of tax dollars. Collins, who is only a congressman because his daddy was a congressman, voted to double health insurance premiums for more than a million Georgians, for the Iran War, and for the Trump tariffs,\u201d Ossoff charged.
\nSchumer and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand spotlighted Collins\u2019 \u201cscandals and harmful agenda\u201d and the DSCC quickly fired off a digital ad accusing the GOP Senate nominee of being \u201ctoo extreme.\u201d
\nRepublicans returned fire.
\nNational Republican Senatorial Committee chair Sen. Tim Scott predicted that \u201cJon Ossoff\u2019s political ambitions will come to a screeching halt this November. Georgians are done with his agenda of open borders, higher taxes, and left-wing partisanship. Georgia is now uniting behind Mike Collins, because he fights for the future of the Peach State.\u201d
\nAnd David McIntosh, president of the politically potent Club for Growth PAC, praised Collins as a \u201cconservative fighter\u201d and claimed that \u201cOssoff has been a rubber stamp for every failed liberal policy enacted since being elected.\u201d
\nThe brute force of the president\u2019s endorsement power has been on display in GOP primaries over the past six weeks, with his candidates ousting incumbents he targeted in showdowns in Indiana, Louisiana, Kentucky and Texas that grabbed plenty of national attention.
\nBut Trump\u2019s endorsement streak in statewide and congressional Republican primaries was snapped two weeks ago when his 11th-hour endorsement of Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra of Iowa in the race to succeed retiring GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds wasn\u2019t enough to propel the three-term congressman to victory.
\nFeenstra was narrowly edged by Zach Lahn, a businessman, farmer and former political strategist who was backed by the political wings of MAHA \u2014 the acronym for the Make America Healthy Again movement aligned with Trump Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. \u2014 and Turning Point USA, the powerful conservative organization co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n
Trump rebounded last week, as the candidate he endorsed in the South Carolina GOP gubernatorial primary, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, finished first in a crowded field and clinched one of the two tickets in the race for the nomination.
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\nMeanwhile, longtime Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham did win a majority of the vote in the Republican Senate primary, and avoided a runoff.
\nGraham, who was endorsed by Trump, was facing primary challenges from five candidates, including conservative businessman Mark Lynch, who took aim at the senator over his support for the war in Iran. Lynch was backed by some MAGA leaders who have been critical of the president.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"