Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) won Georgia’s Republican Senate runoff Tuesday, defeating former football coach Derek Dooley in a closely watched contest that became a proxy fight between President Donald Trump and Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA).
The Associated Press called the race for Collins at 8:37 p.m. With 56% of the vote counted, Collins led with 55% of the vote to Dooley’s 45%.
Collins entered the runoff with Trump’s endorsement and spent much of the race positioning himself as the unapologetic MAGA candidate in the campaign, arguing Republicans wanted a fighter closely aligned with the president and highlighting his work on immigration legislation, including the Laken Riley Act.
Dooley, meanwhile, had the backing of Kemp and much of the state’s Republican establishment, with the governor aggressively campaigning alongside him in the runoff’s final weeks.
The race drew national attention after Trump endorsed Collins over Dooley despite Dooley’s support from Kemp, creating a showdown between two of the most influential figures in Georgia Republican politics.
Still, some Republicans rejected the idea that the election represented a full-scale proxy war between Trump and Kemp given the two were aligned on the state governor’s race.
“People want to make this like a Trump versus Kemp war because that makes for good headlines, but I don’t think Georgia voters see it that way,” Republican strategist Ryan Mahoney told the Washington Examiner before the election. “They’re aligned on one race and they’re on different sides on the other end, and that’s fine.”
Collins finished first in the May 19 primary with roughly 40% of the vote, while Dooley earned about 30%, followed by Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) with roughly 25%.
The runoff unfolded amid concerns from Georgia Republicans about low turnout, with operatives warning that the summer heat, vacations, and voter fatigue could make mobilization efforts more important than television advertising or endorsements.
“At the end of the day, it’s going to come down to which campaign was able to target effectively and turn out their likely voters,” Mahoney said before Election Day.
Several Republicans privately acknowledged in the race’s closing stretch that Dooley appeared to be gaining momentum after campaigning aggressively with Kemp across the state.
But Collins’s alliance with Trump ultimately appeared to give him an advantage with Republican primary voters in a state where the president remains popular.
The race also exposed broader Republican frustrations over how long the Senate primary dragged on, giving Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) more time to campaign without an opponent for the general election.
TRUMP ENDORSES MIKE COLLINS IN GEORGIA SENATE RACE AHEAD OF GOP RUNOFF
“There’s not a good reason why this thing has dragged out for a year only to end up right where it was a year ago,” one Republican strategist said before the runoff.
Collins will now face Ossoff in one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races as Republicans attempt to flip a seat they view as one of their top pickup opportunities in 2026.