NEWNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
President Donald Trump on Saturday made an 11th-hour bid in a key Senate race in the battleground state of Georgia, which is among the few that could decide whether the GOP will hold onto its slim majority in the chamber in November’s midterm elections.
Trump has endorsed Republican Rep. Mike Collins, a MAGA champion and staunch supporter of the president, who is facing charges in Tuesday’s election and former college football coach Derek Dooley, who is backed by popular Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
The winner of the GOP Senate nomination will face off in the midterms against Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff. Republicans view Ossoff as a high-risk Senate Democrat seeking re-election and are focused on the first-term senator.
Collins, who represents Georgia’s 10th Congressional District, located between Atlanta and Augusta, is the son of Rep. The late Mac Collins is also the founder and co-owner, along with his wife, of a trucking company.
DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY INFORMED WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB
Republican U.S. Senate Representative Mike Collins of Georgia speaks to supporters at an overnight primary event May 19, 2026, in Jackson, Georgia. (Jason Allen/Getty Images)
He and Dooley, a lawyer, former University of Tennessee football coach and son of University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley, were the top two finishers in a crowded field of candidates including Rep. Buddy Carter. With no one leading 50 percent in last month’s primary, Collins and Dooley advanced to Tuesday’s election.
Although Collins has long demonstrated his MAGA credentials and support for the president, Trump has not taken sides in the Georgia primary and runoff so far.
Meanwhile, Dooley is strongly supported by the term-limited Kemp, who is his lifelong friend. Kemp and his wife, Georgia First Lady Marty Kemp, have been regular appearances with Dooley on his campaign, and the governor’s top political adviser is a key coordinator of Dooley’s Senate bid.
GEORGIA GOP FREE PRIVATE PRINCIPLES TO START AS REPUBLICANS TRY TO PUSH OSSOFF
Georgia Citizens Vote in the Primary Election Derek Dooley, a candidate for the US Senate in Georgia, from left, his wife Allison Jeffers Dooley, Marty Kemp, the first lady of Georgia, and Brian Kemp, the governor of Georgia, during an election night event at Park Bench Battery in Atlanta, Georgia, US, Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (Ben Hendren/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Although Dooley emphasized his outsider image and directed Collins as a political insider, Collins criticized him for his lack of political experience and for living outside of Georgia for most of his adult life.
Both candidates are politically charged.
The House Ethics Committee was investigating Collins for allegedly paying a district office intern who had a romantic relationship with her congressional boss but did not do the work. Collins denied any wrongdoing and retained a staffer in his Senate campaign.
But the staffer was later fired by Collins after she took to social media on behalf of the campaign to mock Dooley’s wife, a campaign consultant who tried to kill herself after accusing Matt Lauer of rape. The social media post has since been removed and Collins apologized, calling the tweet “disgusting and unauthorized.”
Dooley, last week, was reportedly accused of being part of a “pay to play” scandal involving brother Daniel Dooley, and the governor. Dooley and Kemp have denied any wrongdoing, but Democrats in the Legislature have called for an independent investigation.
Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Democrat from Georgia, is running for re-election in the 2026 midterms. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
As Republicans battled for their party’s nomination last year, Ossoff built a strong war chest that will give him a huge fundraising advantage as the general election wears on.
Although he is not on the ballot, the president’s major influence over the GOP faces another important test on the other side of Georgia, where Lt. Gov. Trump-backed Burt Jones is battling billionaire businessman Rick Jackson for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, in a race to succeed Kemp.
The president’s brute force was on display in last month’s GOP primaries, where candidates ousted incumbents in contests in Indiana, Louisiana, Kentucky and Texas that captured national attention.
But Trump’s support nationally and in the Republican primaries took off two weeks ago when his 11th-hour endorsement of Republican Representative Randy Feenstra of Iowa in the race to replace Gov.
Feenstra was cut short by Zach Lahn, a businessman, farmer and political strategist who once supported the political wings of MAHA – an acronym for the Make America Healthy Again movement associated with Trump’s Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – and Turning Point USA, the powerful conservation organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk.
Zach Lahn raises his fist in celebration after defeating his primary opponent in the Iowa GOP primary race on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (Zach Lahn for Governor via Facebook)
Trump resurfaced last week, as the South Carolina GOP gubernatorial primary candidate, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, who finished first in a crowded field and won one of the two tickets in the nomination race.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM
Meanwhile, Trump’s longtime supporter, Sen. Lindsey Graham, won the most votes in the Republican Senate primary, and avoided a runoff.
Graham, who was endorsed by Trump, was facing serious challenges from five candidates, including conservative businessman Mark Lynch, who was targeting the congressman over his support for the war on Iran. Lynch was supported by some MAGA leaders who were critical of the president.
