'MAGA Warrior' Wins GOP Senate Nomination in Georgia

Rep. Mike Collins has defeated first-time candidate Derek Dooley for the Republican US Senate nomination in Georgia, advancing to face Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff for a seat that will help determine control of Capitol Hill for the final years of Donald Trump's second presidency.

• Trump will be a key fault line in the general election matchup, the AP reports. Collins has identified closely with Trump since he first won his House seat in north Georgia in 2022. A trucking company owner and son of a congressman, Collins campaigns as a self-described "MAGA warrior." In his endorsement Sunday, Trump praised Collins as a "true Friend, Fighter, and WARRIOR, who has been with us from the very beginning," CBS News reports.

• Ossoff, first elected in 2020, has blasted Trump as a "national embarrassment" who is using the presidency to enrich himself and his family. The 39-year-old is the lone Senate Democrat running in a state that Trump won in 2024. Democrats face tremendous pressure to hold his seat as they try to gain a net of four seats to claim a Senate majority. Republicans have not won a US Senate contest in Georgia since 2016, Trump's first election.
• Despite his ties to Trump and the Republican base, Collins has argued that he can build a broad coalition, and he plans to use immigration as a contrast with Ossoff. In the House, Collins sponsored the Laken Riley Act, a 2025 law that requires immigrants accused of certain crimes to be detained. It is named for a Georgia nursing student killed in 2021 by a Venezuelan man who was in the US illegally. Ossoff voted against a version of the legislation before backing the final proposal after Trump's return to power.

• Collins won the nomination despite his Republican opponents highlighting a House ethics complaint that accuses him of abusing taxpayer funds by paying the girlfriend of his former top adviser for congressional job duties she allegedly did not fulfill. After an initial investigation, a federal panel forwarded the matter to the House Ethics Committee.
• The congressman begins his general election campaign at a financial disadvantage. Collins raised about $4.9 million through the end of May, and reported having less than $1.2 million remaining. Through late April, the last time Ossoff had to file before his primary, the incumbent had raised $60.4 million and had $32.5 million on hand.
• Dooley, a former college football coach, had the backing of Gov. Brian Kemp and the runoff was seen as a proxy fight between Kemp and Trump, who have feuded off and on since Kemp refused to back Trump's false election fraud claims in 2020. In his Truth Social post endorsing Collins, Trump said Dooley "seems like a nice person," but he "said that I lost Georgia in 2020 when, in actuality, the facts have now proven that I won by a lot!"