Trump-backed candidate survives grueling runoff, advances to high-stakes Senate race

JACKSON, GA – 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.

The 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’s election in a race that’s among a handful that will likely decide if the GOP holds its slim majority in the chamber in this autumn’s midterm elections.

Republicans view Ossoff as the most vulnerable Senate Democrat seeking re-election and are heavily targeting the first-term senator.

Collins, a two-term federal lawmaker who represents Georgia’s 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’s primary, Collins and Dooley advanced to Tuesday’s runoff election.

While 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.

“It’s an honor to have that endorsement. It just shows that he has confidence that we know how to win this race, we know we’re in the lead in this thing,” Collins told Fox News Digital on Sunday, hours after landing Trump’s endorsement.

Asked if Trump’s endorsement in Georgia came too late to make a difference, Collins said, “I don’t 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.”

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’s top political advisor was a senior consultant for Dooley’s Senate bid.

Dooley, who ran as an outsider, said in a Fox News Digital interview on the eve of the runoff that the president’s backing of his rival “doesn’t change how I feel.”

“I’m honored to have Governor Kemp’s endorsement. I certainly would have been honored to have the President’s endorsement. But the most important endorsement that I’m fighting for is the people of Georgia,” he emphasized.

Dooley emphasized his outsider image and he targeted Collins as a political insider.

Dooley told Fox News Digital voters “are fed up with what’s going on in Congress. They’re fed up with the careerism, the corruption, the inaction. And it’s time we get sent a different kind of leader up there to change business as usual in D.C.”

Collins criticized Dooley for a lack of political experience and for living outside of Georgia for much of his adult life.

“Not having a record is not gonna win this thing. But having a records of results will,” Collins told supporters on the eve of the runoff. 

Both candidates had some political baggage.

The 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.

But 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 “despicable and unauthorized.”

Dooley, over the past week, was reportedly accused of being part of a “pay-to-play” scandal involving brother Daniel Dooley and the governor. Dooley and Kemp have denied any wrongdoing, but Democrats in the legislature requested an independent investigation.

While the Republicans have been battling for their party’s 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.

“I know how to win this race. I look forward to getting the governor’s endorsement. I look forward to getting his help in this thing. I look forward to getting Derrick Dooley’s help in this thing,” Collins said when asked by Fox Digital if he could unite Republican voters in the general election. 

Collins emphasized that “at the end of the day, we’re all Republicans, and we’re on one mission, and that is to put a Republican in that seat and get somebody that represents…the state of Georgia.”

But the top super PAC supporting Democratic Senate candidates and aligned with longtime Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer quick took aim at Collins following his nomination victory.

“Mike Collins is an opposition researcher’s dream. He treats Congress like a money-making scheme for his family business, an ethics-free zone, and a conspiracy theory clearinghouse – sometimes all in the same week. This unelectable nepo baby doesn’t have what it takes to beat Jon Ossoff,” Senate Majority PAC spokesperson Lauren French argued.

The brute force of the president’s 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.

But Trump’s 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’t enough to propel the three-term congressman to victory.

Feenstra was narrowly edged by Zach Lahn, a businessman, farmer and former political strategist who was backed by the political wings of MAHA — the acronym for the Make America Healthy Again movement aligned with Trump Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — and Turning Point USA, the powerful conservative organization co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk.

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.

Meanwhile, longtime Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham did win a majority of the vote in the Republican Senate primary, and avoided a runoff.

Graham, 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.