Georgia Senate Republicans head into Tuesday’s primary with a central goal: choose a nominee who can defeat Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in November, after party strategists have signaled that the path back may be more difficult than in recent cycles. The competition among Rep. Mike Collins, Rep. Buddy Carter and Derek Dooley reflects a broader internal fight over how to sell a Republican candidacy to voters beyond the party’s core.
Collins, a two-term House member who owns a trucking company, has framed his candidacy in explicitly Trump-aligned terms. At a campaign stop in Acworth, he called himself a “warrior for President Donald Trump” and for his “Make America Great Again” movement, while acknowledging that even some supporters have concerns as voters weigh the party’s prospects.
Those concerns surfaced in comments from Gary Waldrep, a local party committee chairman, who asked Collins how he would win over at least some “middle-of-the-road” voters who could be put off by Trump. Waldrep said he was watching polls “just like everybody else” and added, “I know it’s going to be close,” reflecting anxiety among Republicans in a state where Democrats have recently shown strength in Senate contests.
Republican leaders are also watching the calendar and the possibility of a runoff. Trump has not endorsed a candidate, leaving open the chance of a June 16 runoff if no one wins the nomination outright, a scenario that could use up time and resources while the party focuses on defeating Ossoff.
Democrats would have an opening to expand their influence in the Senate if Ossoff wins re-election. The AP reporting says Ossoff is the only senator from his party running for reelection in a state that Trump won two years ago, and it notes that if Ossoff loses, Democrats would have “almost no chance” of winning a Senate majority.
The contest also comes against a recent electoral backdrop in which Ossoff and Sen. Raphael Warnock have each won Senate contests over the past six years, with each race defeating a Republican who pledged fealty to Trump. For this year’s campaign, Kemp declined to endorse Collins or Carter. Instead, Kemp recruited Dooley, presenting the nominee as a political outsider.
Kemp said Friday as he introduced Dooley at a gun store in Douglasville that “My goal is here is to win our Senate seat back,” and he said the state “need[s] a political outsider to do that.” Kemp’s argument followed a pattern of outsider victories in other states, including references to first-term Republican senators who had not previously held elected office, such as Ohio’s Bernie Moreno, Montana’s Tim Sheehy and Pennsylvania’s Dave McCormick.
Dooley, 57, has leaned on that outsider pitch while also arguing that policy differences among the Republican candidates are minimal. In a recent interview, he said there are few if any policy differences among the candidates and that “electability is everything,” while his advertising emphasizes working with Trump’s base and also reaching broader voters. In one television spot described by the AP, Dooley tells voters, “I’m gonna work with President Trump, but for you.”
Collins, 58, has emphasized his legislative record and described himself as someone who can deliver for Georgia while maintaining conservative principles. He said, “I have proven that I can deliver for the state of Georgia,” adding that he can do it “with bipartisan legislation” and that he “never compromise[s] my conservative values.” The AP story also describes Collins’ social media presence as having boosted his identity as a firebrand and as drawing criticism, including a 2024 post that shared a video of University of Mississippi students taunting a Black woman, with Collins writing, “Ole Miss taking care of business.”
Carter, 68, is running for a sixth term in Congress from a Savannah-based district. The AP story says he has pulled back on advertising in the closing weeks before the primary, indicating he may not have adequate financial support. Carter’s campaign has also focused on ethics, targeting Collins over an allegation that Collins abused taxpayer funds by hiring the girlfriend of his former chief of staff—now described as his campaign adviser—for work Carter says she did not perform.
In a debate cited by the AP, Carter asked Collins, “If taxpayers can’t trust you to properly steward their money, how can they trust you to be a U.S. senator?” Collins replied that Carter could tell how the polling was going, saying, “Buddy, I can tell through the voice that you know how the polling is going out there.”
Dooley has argued that he comes from “a whole different world” than Collins and Carter, saying that both represent what he is running against. He told voters, “I come from a whole different world than they come from,” and said he wants to “change how Washington does its business,” arguing voters should be in Washington “for the right reasons.” Kemp’s campaign framing, Dooley’s outsider branding, and Carter’s ethics attacks all underscore that the GOP nomination contest is also a test of who can best translate party themes into a general-election path against Ossoff.