Georgia Republicans have chosen Congressman Mike Collins to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in November.
Collins led with about 56% of the vote as of about 10 p.m. Tuesday, according to unofficial results from the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office.
Speaking to a supportive crowd at a historic home in his native Jackson, Georgia, Collins said he had just gotten off the phone with his opponent, former University of Tennessee football coach and attorney Derek Dooley.
“I want to thank Derek because he ran a spirited campaign and I want to thank Gov. (Brian) Kemp for his leadership and his friendship over the years,” he said.
Kemp backed Dooley and campaigned vigorously for him, arguing he would have a better shot at winning in November.
“We’re Republicans, now, we’re going to have some robust primaries out there,” Collins added. “Sometimes we’ve got some strong disagreements. But I can tell you one thing, now we stand united around one mission. And y’all know what the mission is, it’s to put a Republican in that seat and get rid of that Jon Ossoff in November and return this seat to the people of Georgia.”
Collins received a last-minute endorsement from President Donald Trump, who threw his support behind the congressman two days before the election and after early voting had already concluded.
Several Republican Election Day voters interviewed for this story said they already knew who they would vote for before the president’s endorsement.
Cherokee County retiree Lyle Vick said his choice to back Collins came down to experience.
“Mr. Dooley, to me, doesn’t have the background. He has the education, but not the background, and he’s too much on his dad’s coattails,” Vick said.
Dooley’s father was Vince Dooley, the legendary University of Georgia football coach.
Vick said he heard about Trump’s endorsement, but it didn’t sway him either way.
“My mind was already made up about who I was going to vote for,” Vick said. “Trump didn’t even play into it.”
Before being elected to Congress in 2022, Collins worked as founder and CEO of a trucking company. He represents the conservative 10th District, which runs east from metro Atlanta to the South Carolina line and includes Athens.
His father, former U.S. Rep. Mac Collins, served in Congress from 1993 until 2005.
Collins was the primary author of the Laken Riley Act, which was named for a 22-year-old nursing student who was killed in his district by a man who had entered the country illegally and expanded requirements for the detention of immigrants charged with property crimes. It was the first bill signed by Trump in his second term.
Ball Ground court reporter and transcriptionist Grace Manglona named the Laken Riley Act as her top reason for supporting Collins.
“He’s actually gotten results. Derek Dooley’s record with his missing a lot of votes did not sit well with me,” she said, referring to reporting from the Associated Press that Dooley did not vote for nearly two decades.
Collins campaigned as a “conservative workhorse” with the commitment to pass legislation to support Trump’s agenda and an ability to work across the aisle without sacrificing his conservative ideals.
But detractors predicted he would face challenges in a general election, where ties with Trump are less of an asset. Opponents also point to a history of divisive social media posts and an ongoing ethics investigation.
The House Ethics Committee is investigating Collins and his former chief of staff, Brandon Phillips, over allegations that they improperly used government funds to pay a woman Phillips was dating for work she did not do.
Collins has characterized the accusations as political theater.
The race for Ossoff’s seat is likely to be grueling and expensive. Ossoff is the only Democratic senator up for re-election this year in a state won by Trump in 2024, which makes it a major priority for Republicans hoping to hold onto the chamber.
Ossoff has the highest fundraising totals of any Senate candidate in 2026. According to the Federal Election Commission, he raised $14 million from the start of the year through the end of March, and his total funds topped $31 million as of his most recent filing.
Ossoff, who flipped the Senate seat in an early 2021 runoff, went after Collins in a statement released shortly after the race was called.
“Donald Trump’s handpicked candidate Mike Collins is a notorious bigot, antisemite, and extremist currently under federal investigation for the illegal misuse of tax dollars,” Ossoff said. “Collins, who is only a congressman because his daddy was a congressman, voted to double health insurance premiums for more than a million Georgians, for the Iran War, and for the Trump tariffs.”
