President Donald Trump threw his weight behind Representative Mike Collins in Tuesday's Georgia Republican Senate runoff, endorsing the staunch ally over former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley. The endorsement, delivered early Sunday on Truth Social, sets up a proxy battle between Trump and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, who has backed Dooley.
Trump praised Collins as a “WARRIOR and WINNER” and noted he is “strongly supported by the most Highly Respected MAGA Patriots in Georgia and beyond.” The former president also referred to Collins as “‘MAGA’ Mike Collins,” signaling his alignment with the party's Trump wing.
The winner of Tuesday's runoff will face Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff in November. Trump went after Ossoff, widely seen as the most vulnerable Senate Democrat this cycle, calling him a “Radical Left Dumocrat” and a “weak and pathetic Senator.” He also labeled Ossoff “a laughingstock in Washington.”
Neither Collins nor Dooley secured more than 50 percent of the vote in May's primary, forcing the runoff. The contest has become a key battleground in the ongoing rift between Trump and Kemp, which dates back to the 2020 election. Trump narrowly lost Georgia that year and pressured Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn the results, a request both refused. Trump later backed a primary challenger against Kemp in 2022, but the governor easily defeated that effort.
Trump took aim at Dooley directly, writing, “I don’t know Derek Dooley, and neither does anyone else, but he seems like a nice person.” He criticized Dooley for living outside Georgia for most of his life and for not voting in 2016 or 2020. “He said that I lost Georgia in 2020 when, in actuality, the facts have now proven that I won by a lot!” Trump added, echoing his baseless claims of election fraud.
Collins, a first-term congressman, is best known for authoring the Laken Riley Act, which mandates detention of undocumented immigrants charged with theft or burglary. The bill has become a rallying cry for immigration hawks. Dooley, meanwhile, has campaigned on a “Georgia First” platform, a subtle shift from Trump's “America First” rhetoric, while still offering praise for the former president.
Georgia is considered a prime pickup opportunity for Republicans, but Ossoff enters the general election with a formidable war chest. According to a pre-primary Federal Election Commission report, the Democrat has $32.5 million in cash on hand, a sum that Republicans acknowledge will make him a tough opponent. The race is likely to be one of the most expensive and closely watched Senate contests in the country.
The Trump-Kemp feud continues to shape Georgia Republican politics, and Tuesday's runoff will test the former president's influence in a state where his 2020 loss still stings. For Collins, a win would set up a high-stakes clash with Ossoff, while a loss would be a blow to Trump's endorsement power and a victory for Kemp's faction.
