Georgia’s Republican Senate primary is headed to a runoff, delaying a resolution in the marquee race that could determine control of the Senate. Georgia voters were among those in six states that cast ballots in primary elections on Tuesday.
Rep. Mike Collins and ex-football coach Derek Dooley advanced in the Republican primary to face Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff in the fall, the Associated Press projects. They will compete in a runoff on June 16, extending their acrimonious rivalry that threatens to divide the GOP.
Three Republicans battled each other to face Ossoff in the purple state thought to be the GOP’s best opportunity to pick up a Senate seat in a year in which the party faces fierce headwinds. Ossoff, a 39-year-old Democrat, has amassed a large war chest while Collins, Dooley and Rep. Buddy Carter spent months attacking each other at town halls and on the airwaves.
With most votes counted late Tuesday night, Collins led with a plurality of the vote while Dooley edged out Carter to secure the second spot in the runoff.
The swing state has frustrated Republicans in recent years. Democrats upended nearly two decades of GOP rule to turn the state’s two Senate seats blue in 2021.
One of Georgia’s most popular Republicans, Gov. Brian Kemp, has argued for months that only his protégé, the political novice Dooley, has a shot of winning back the Senate seat for Republicans, because he can appeal to more moderate and independent voters. Dooley performed strongly with GOP voters in the suburbs of Atlanta on Tuesday, but he trailed Collins significantly in much of the rest of the state. Carter led the pack in his southeast Georgia home district.
Collins, a MAGA warrior with a prolific and controversial social media presence, has said he believes he can win both the state’s moderate conservatives in the Atlanta suburbs as well as Trump’s ruby red base.
Trump has so far declined to endorse in the primary, but has previously heaped praise on Collins. Republicans are watching to see whether Trump decides to wade into the runoff, as he did Tuesday when he endorsed Ken Paxtonin the Texas GOP Senate primary against incumbent Sen. John Cornyn.
Dooley has portrayed Collins as scandal-plagued because he faces an ethics investigation over allegations that his then-chief of staff misused taxpayer money to pay a friend. (Collins’s office has denied the allegations.)
Kemp appeared with Dooley on the campaign trail and in his advertising. A Kemp affiliated super PAC, Hardworking Americans Inc., spent or reserved nearly $2 million in ads supporting Dooley, according to data from AdImpact.
Kemp chose Dooley, his childhood best friend’s brother, despite his absence from Georgia for decades while he coached football out of state. His rivals also attacked Dooley for not voting in recent elections, including in 2016 and 2020, when Trump was on the ballot.
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