Georgia Republicans delivered a split decision for Donald Trump in Tuesday runoffs—backing Trump’s Senate choice, Rep. Mike Collins, while rejecting his preferred gubernatorial pick and nominating billionaire newcomer Rick Jackson instead.
JACKSON, Ga. — The mood in Georgia’s Republican runoffs was uneasy from the start: one race matched Donald Trump’s wishes. the other didn’t. By night’s end, voters had picked Rep. Mike Collins for the U.S. Senate and Rick Jackson for governor—an outcome that leaves Trump with a foothold in Congress but less control over statewide power heading into November.
In the Senate race, Collins, a 58-year-old second-term congressman, topped former football coach Derek Dooley and will face Sen. Jon Ossoff, the only Senate Democrat running for reelection in a state Trump won two years ago. The contest will play into the broader fight for control of Capitol Hill for the final years of Trump’s second presidency.
For governor, Jackson, 71, beat Lt. Gov. Burt Jones after spending about $100 million of his own money on the campaign. Jackson will face Democratic nominee and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in November.
Trump. who endorsed Jones nearly a year ago and Collins two days before the runoff. found himself at the center of that contradiction again. He was absent from Republicans’ remarks on Tuesday. a notable shift from other primary nights when candidates typically paid homage to the president despite his sagging approval ratings.
Collins cast himself as the kind of conservative who can work with others when it helps win. After celebrating in his hometown, he thanked his wife, children, grandchildren, siblings, friends, supporters and staffers—but never mentioned Trump. In the same celebration. he described himself as a “MAGA warrior” and echoed Trump’s false claims that Georgia’s 2020 election loss was rigged.
Still, Collins also promised to campaign in “every ZIP code and every community” of this closely divided state. He pitched his approach as broadly practical, touting his bipartisanship and saying he can achieve progress by “building coalitions and finding common ground.”
Ossoff, meanwhile, has made Trump a central target. The 39-year-old. first elected during the 2020 cycle. faces intense pressure to hold his seat as Democrats try to gain a net of four seats to claim a Senate majority. He has described Trump as a “national embarrassment. ” arguing the president is using the presidency to enrich himself and his family.
On the money side, the fight is already lopsided. Collins raised about $4.9 million through the end of May and reported having less than $1.2 million remaining. By comparison. Ossoff had raised $60.4 million and had $32.5 million on hand through late April. the last time Ossoff had to file before his primary.
In Georgia’s governor’s race. Jackson’s campaign relied on self-financing and a deliberate contrast with Trump’s political establishment. Over months. he compared himself—describing himself as a tremendously wealthy political newcomer and pointing to his “unusual path to the presidency”—to Trump. He didn’t make that direct pitch in the same way on Tuesday night.
But he told the crowd, “I’m the only candidate who doesn’t owe a thing to the political establishment,” before adding, “We proved the people of Georgia are in charge.”
Trump congratulated Jackson on social media, saying he “very successfully campaigned on being ‘TRUMP,’ and won.” The president also wrote, “He will be your next Governor of Georgia,” adding, “Can’t wait!”
Republicans now face the immediate work of unifying and raising money for both general-election campaigns. Democrats, too, are trying to buck national trends—while also banking on turnout. Democrats drew about 160. 000 more voters than Republicans in the May primary. the first time since Democrats’ victorious 1998 year that they led primary turnout. Republican runoff turnout was also lower Tuesday than in recent election cycles.
Collins said he had “good conversations” with Dooley and Gov. Brian Kemp, who had supported Dooley, and that Republicans “stand united around one mission” — defeating Ossoff in November.
Dooley, speaking to a more subdued crowd in metro Atlanta, struck a tone that matched the bitterness of the runoff itself. “We have a lot of disagreements but the one thing that hasn’t changed is my opinion of Jon Ossoff,” Dooley said.
The campaigns were marked by sharp attacks on both sides, some of which Democrats say they will bring back into the general election.
Dooley repeatedly attacked Collins over a House ethics complaint that accuses him of abusing taxpayer funds by paying the girlfriend of his former top adviser for congressional job duties she allegedly did not fulfill. After an initial investigation, a federal panel forwarded the matter to the House Ethics Committee. Kemp had urged voters for months to nominate Dooley as a “political outsider. ” arguing he could attack Ossoff without having to defend his own record.
In the other runoff, Jones accused Jackson of being a faux conservative, saying Jackson employed immigrants in the country illegally and that Jackson’s wife has donated to Democratic candidates.
State Republican Chairman Josh McKoon said he was confident the party could corral its base and win swing voters. “This election is going to be won by the side that is able to become the party of common sense,” he said.
Even as Collins begins the Senate campaign with a financial gap, he is trying to keep Trump ties from becoming a liability while still using Trump-aligned themes to draw contrast with Ossoff. Collins argued he has broad appeal and plans to use immigration as a contrast with Ossoff.
In the House, Collins sponsored the Laken Riley Act, a 2025 law requiring immigrants accused of certain crimes to be detained. The act is named for a Georgia nursing student killed in 2021 by a Venezuelan man who was in the U.S. illegally. Ossoff voted against a version of the legislation before backing the final proposal after Trump’s return to power.
Collins also leaned on his business background. repeatedly describing his decades building his trucking company based in the same community where he was raised. “You see. I know what it’s like to have employees and their families count on you to make the right decisions every day. Jon Ossoff doesn’t,” he said.
Jackson’s path to the top looks like a different political story—one driven by personal wealth and saturation advertising. He blanketed television and online platforms with ads, pledged that immigrants in Georgia illegally will be “deported or departed,” and promised a slew of tax cuts.
He also previewed a likely general-election argument by emphasizing his biography as a product of the state foster care system. He featured his grandchildren advising him on how to make friendlier ads.
Jones, by contrast, comes from a wealthy family but his personal spending measured in the single millions. Despite Trump’s endorsement, the president did not travel to Georgia to campaign with Jones.
Georgia’s split in these runoffs lands inside a state politics landscape that Democrats and Republicans are both trying to explain away. Republicans haven’t won a Senate race in Georgia since 2016, the year of Trump’s first election. Democrats haven’t won a governor’s race since 1998.
Georgia’s secretary of state race also promises to shape future contests. The office was open for the first time since Trump’s attempts to subvert the 2020 election. when he famously pressed outgoing Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11. 780 votes” to overtake Biden. Raffensperger refused. In Tuesday’s vote, Republicans picked Tim Fleming as their nominee.
Before the nomination, Republicans had been choosing between Vernon Jones, an election-denier, and Tim Fleming, a state lawmaker who avoids explicitly disputing Trump’s 2020 election lies. Republicans ultimately chose Fleming.
Jones. a perennial candidate once a Democrat. embraced Trump’s “stop the steal” movement and said he stood “with those who believe there was election fraud.” Fleming. who previously served as deputy secretary of state. said there were “irregularities” in 2020—a word choice that has become code for Republicans who want neither to ratify nor call out Trump’s claims.
Democrats voted for Penny Brown Reynolds, a former state judge in Fulton County who also served in the Biden administration as deputy assistant secretary for civil rights for the Department of Agriculture, over Dana Barrett, a Fulton County commissioner.
The runoffs left Georgia’s next two general elections poised to become tests not just of candidates. but of how much Trump still matters—and how much Georgia’s Republican base can still move on its own. Collins has Trump’s endorsement and the Senate opening. Jackson has Trump’s praise and the governor’s seat—but the message of Tuesday night was the same in both races: Georgia Republicans aren’t simply following the president’s playbook.
Georgia runoffs Mike Collins Jon Ossoff Rick Jackson Burt Jones Keisha Lance Bottoms Trump Senate control governor race