Emily Wu Pearson
| WABE
May 19th, 2026
Updated May 19, 2026,
12:01 AM EDT
The Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat in Georgia will go to a runoff between U.S. Rep. Mike Collins and former football coach Derek Dooley on June 16.
Collins is a trucking executive who represents a large swath of Northwest Georgia, including parts of East metro Atlanta up through Athens.
Dooley is a former University of Tennessee football coach who entered the race as a political newcomer but with full support from Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
They beat U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, real estate developer John Coyne and retired brigadier general Jonathan McColumn.
Collins is a committed Trump supporter and has traveled around Georgia and the country to rally for the president. He aligned with the president’s “America First” platform agenda and has since taken a strong stance on immigration. Since his term began, he authored the first law Trump signed in his second term, the Laken Riley Act, named after a college student who was killed in Athens by a Venezuelan migrant who was in the U.S. illegally.
He also intervened when his constituents in Social Circle, about an hour east of Atlanta, raised concerns about Immigration and Customs Enforcement buying a warehouse to convert into a detention center. Even though Collins supports stricter immigration policies and supports Trump’s efforts to expand immigration detention, he helped communicate to the federal government when local officials in Social Circle raised concerns with the facility because they were not consulted about the facility, and don’t have the infrastructure for it.
“The suburban and independent voters, they just want results,” Collins said Tuesday night. “They want somebody to go to Washington to deliver for them. And I have delivered. See, you don’t beat Jon Ossoff with no record. You win by having a record of results.”
Dooley is complimentary of Trump’s policies. He came into the election with Kemp’s full support and endorsement, as the two grew up together and are close friends. He also comes to the Georgia race as part of a football legacy, as his father Vince was a beloved UGA football coach for more than 20 years.
Dooley’s campaign focused on changing the way politics works in Washington, D.C., with an emphasis on term limits, banning stock trading for Congress members, and reeling back spending. He also wants to reform healthcare and allow patients to have more choice and control over their healthcare by removing insurance bureaucracy.
“The D.C. crowd … they’ve been attacking me. They didn’t want an outsider,” he said at an election night watch party. “They want an insider because they’re all in bed together. And that’s why we were attacked before I was even announced as a candidate. It wasn’t because their ideas were better. It wasn’t because they were better equipped to represent the Georgia people. We were attacked because we were a threat to what’s going on up there in D.C.”
Trump did not endorse any Republican candidate in the Senate primary race. Whoever wins the runoff will face incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Ossoff in the November election.
“Jon Ossoff is the most vulnerable incumbent on the map, and his disastrous record of higher taxes, men in women’s sports, and protecting criminal illegals like Laken Riley’s killer puts him out of step with Georgia. Ossoff will be defeated for consistently putting the radical left’s agenda above Georgians’ needs this November,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee Regional Press Secretary Nick Puglia.
While campaigning, Collins emphasized cost of living “The affordability issues out there are a huge issue, especially for our younger people,” he said.
He echoed some of the administration’s talking points to reel in Trump’s supporters.
“We continue to look at America First always, and then we make sure that we get the government off the backs of these hardworking men and women out there,” said Collins.
