The Republican Senate primary in Georgia is heading to a runoff, NBC News projects, with Rep. Mike Collins advancing to the June 16 contest. But it’s not clear yet who Collins will face.
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Former football coach Derek Dooley, who is backed by Gov. Brian Kemp, and Rep. Buddy Carter are battling for that second runoff spot, since none of the candidates were able to win a majority of the primary vote. The winner will take on Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in one of the most consequential Senate races of the midterm elections.
It is not clear if President Donald Trump will endorse a candidate in the runoff, after staying on the sidelines during the primary even as all three of the top candidates vied for his endorsement.
Collins was widely expected to advance to a runoff, as he led the field in most public polling after spending the primary campaign stressing his MAGA bonafides and grassroots appeal. A trucking company owner who was first elected to Congress in 2022, Collins’ late father, Mac, also represented Georgia in Congress.
Collins’ closing TV ad in the primary featured footage of Trump praising the congressman, noting that he authored the Laken Riley Act, the first first bill Trump signed into law in his second term. The bill, which addressed immigrant detention, was named after a Georgia nursing student who was killed by a Venezuelan man who entered the U.S. illegally.
Collins has pitched himself as a “true conservative,” telling supporters at a recent campaign stop in Dahlonega that he is “someone who has shown that he can pass bipartisan legislation and never compromises conservative values.”
But Collins’ primary opponents have argued that he would struggle in a general election against Ossoff, in part because he is facing a House Ethics Committee investigation over allegations that he misused congressional funds. Collins has been accused of paying his former chief of staff for campaign work and by employing that aide’s girlfriend, who did not do work for the office, allegations that Collins has dismissed as “bogus.”
Collins has been pushing for Trump’s endorsement, and has declined to break with the president. Asked after that recent campaign stop if there were any aspects of Trump’s second term that he disagreed with, Collins said, he “can’t believe” that the president gets three hours of sleep.
“Listen, I ran on Trump policies. I ran on ‘America First.’ I know what those policies did and can do for this country and for the people of this country,” Collins said. “That’s what I’m running with, and he is, I wholeheartedly support what he’s been doing.”
Whoever wins the June runoff will be in for a hotly contested race against Ossoff, the only Democratic senator running for re-election this year in a state that Trump won in 2024.
And Ossoff has been gearing up for a tough race. His campaign had more than $32 million in his campaign account as of April 29. On the campaign trail, Ossoff has been taking aim at a broader culture of corruption in Washington, as well as Trump, even though the president won the state by 2 points in 2024.
Georgia has been one of the most tightly divided states in the nation in recent years, with Trump losing there by less than half a percentage point in 2020. And Republicans have been on a two-cycle losing streak in Senate races: Ossoff and Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock first won their races in 2021 runoffs, and Warnock won again in 2022, defeating Trump-backed Herschel Walker.
Even some Republicans acknowledge the race will be difficult.
”I think it’s going to be very hard either way,” said Jason Shepherd, a former Cobb County GOP chairman who backed Dooley in the primary, noting that Ossoff’s office is well-known for strong constituent services.
“We are talking about a midterm election where a Republican has the White House so we’re going to have the wind blowing against us,” Shepherd said. “And that should be expected.”
Still, Republicans have their eyes on Georgia as a top pickup opportunity in 2026, given that Trump carried the state in 2024. Democrats are also defending a Senate seat in another Trump-won state, Michigan, where Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is retiring.
