Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) and former football coach Derek Dooley are set to compete in the Georgia Senate Republican primary runoff on June 16 after no candidate received more than 50 percent of votes during Tuesday’s primary election.
Collins, who represents Georgia’s 10th congressional district and owns a trucking company, was the first winner of the night, with AP and NBC News calling first place for him just a few hours after polls closed with 41.6 percent of the votes. Before midnight, the outlets called second place for Dooley over Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA).
With most of the votes tallied by Wednesday morning, Collins led the primary at 40.5 percent, followed by Dooley at 30.2 percent, and Carter at 25.1 percent. Two other candidates did not reach over 4 percent. In Georgia, if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of votes, the top two candidates advance to a runoff.
Collins and Dooley, a former University of Tennessee football coach, lawyer, and first-time candidate, backed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA), will now go head-to-head as they vie for the seat of Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff. Ossoff, who was first elected in 2021, has been dubbed the “most vulnerable” Democrat up for reelection, and whichever Republican wins the runoff will face him in November.
Polling leading up to the primary consistently showed Collins leading his competitors. Closer to election day, polling showed Dooley surpassing Carter as the candidate, and his establishment backers dumped funding into massive advertising campaigns.
RealClear Polling average shows Collins presenting the greatest challenge to Ossoff, with the incumbent projected to lead by a narrow 2.8 points in the general election. Polling averages project Ossoff leading Dooley by 6.7 points.
Collins largely executed a grassroots campaign — visiting all 159 counties in Georgia — and credits his lead in the race to that strategy.
“What is our mission? Our mission is to make sure that we put a Republican in that seat. Someone who actually reflects the values of the state and the people of this state,” Collins told voters at a campaign event in Bainbridge, Georgia, ahead of the primary election.
“Right now, we’ve got a primary coming up, and not only do we need to put a Republican in the seat, but to win the state of Georgia, you need to have the right Republican. You have to make sure you put the right Republican up against Jon Ossoff in the state of Georgia,” he said.
While President Donald Trump made an early endorsement in the 2026 Georgia gubernatorial race for Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, he has yet to endorse a candidate in the Senate race. Jones and billionaire Rick Jackson also advanced to a runoff on Tuesday night, dashing Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Georgia Attorney General Chris Carrs’ hopes of winning the governor’s seat this election cycle.
The 45th and 47th president did note on October 15 that “some very good people are running” for the Georgia U.S. Senate seat.
“And I understand that I haven’t made a decision yet,” Trump said at the time. “But I’m following that race very carefully.”
“It’s very important for Georgia to get a real senator because the senator they have now is a horrible senator,” Trump said of Democrat incumbent Sen. Ossoff. “Those people are great and they deserve a good senator because the man they have now is a weak, ineffective person.”
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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