Trump’s endorsement – Rep. Mike Collins rallied Georgia Republicans in the final stretch of the GOP Senate runoff after Donald Trump’s Sunday night endorsement, brushing aside concerns and setting up a potential November matchup with Sen. Jon Ossoff. Collins praised Trump’s “thumb
WOODSTOCK, Ga. — In the northern Atlanta exurbs on Sunday, Rep. Mike Collins stood at the bed of a pickup truck and talked like the next month had already arrived.
He had just celebrated Donald Trump’s 11th-hour endorsement as the Republican runoff against former football coach Derek Dooley closed in. and Collins dismissed any worry that Trump’s approval—coming from a president whose numbers have slipped in Georgia—could backfire in a potential November contest with Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.
“I’ve always said that President Trump has this just impeccable ability to put his thumb on the scale at the right time,” Collins said at a campaign stop in Woodstock, a Cherokee County community.
Republicans are competing Tuesday for the chance to unseat Ossoff in one of the most closely watched races of the November midterm elections.
Trump disclosed his choice of Collins over Dooley in a middle-of-the-night social media post that praised the second-term congressman for his loyalty. Collins called it “encouraging” to have the president’s approval. Looking past Dooley to the prospect of facing Ossoff. Collins said he planned to invite Trump to Georgia—even as Trump’s approval ratings have slipped in the battleground state that he won twice and lost once.
“I’d love to have President Trump in Georgia every day, any day he wants to come down,” Collins said.
Collins has leaned into that closeness for years. Since his first House campaign in 2022, he has backed Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement. In his announcement early Sunday, Trump said Collins “has been with me from the very beginning” and called him a “true friend, fighter, and WARRIOR.”
Trump also used the contrast with Dooley to underline the choice. In the social media post. Trump wrote that he “don’t know Derek Dooley. and neither does anyone else. ” adding that Dooley did not vote in 2016 or 2020. when Trump was on the ballot. Dooley has acknowledged going nearly two decades without voting, but says he did vote for Trump in 2024.
Trump complained further that Dooley—accurately—said Trump lost Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020, refusing to back the president’s lie that the election was stolen from him.
Collins has echoed Trump’s disputed claims for his own pitch to voters. On Sunday, he called the 2020 election “legitimately rigged,” arguing that elections officials in Georgia and other states erred by expanding absentee voting and, in the congressman’s views, relaxing other election controls.
The runoff has been tight enough that Collins and Dooley both see opportunity in the votes that didn’t go their way in the May 19 primary. Collins led Dooley in that first matchup but did not surpass 40%, leaving many Republican votes up for grabs.
Trump’s endorsement has proved powerful as he shapes a party identity that is increasingly indistinguishable from his own. At the Woodstock stop, Collins supporters cheered when the endorsement came up.
“He waited a little bit,” said James Haddad, a 66-year-old retired engineer from Woodstock in Cherokee County. “But he’s studied the candidates, and he did the right thing. It’s going to help.”
Dooley responded quickly, framing Collins as out of touch. After Trump’s pick, Dooley said Georgia voters do not want “typical D.C. politicians like Mike Collins.” In an X post, Dooley expressed confidence he’d still win.
With Gov. Brian Kemp as his top surrogate. Dooley argues that a first-time candidate has a better shot to defeat Ossoff. the only Democratic senator facing voters in a state Trump carried in 2024. Kemp had been the top choice of Senate Republican leaders seeking an Ossoff challenger. but Kemp recruited Dooley. a childhood friend. to run instead.
Haddad said he voted for Kemp twice and appreciates the job the outgoing governor has done, but he didn’t factor Kemp’s opinion into his Senate choice. Collins, for his part, didn’t mention Kemp on Sunday and spent more time criticizing Ossoff.
“He doesn’t reflect the state of Georgia,” Collins told supporters. “He doesn’t represent our values — matter of fact, he shouldn’t even be there.”
Trump’s choice also throws the spotlight back on his uneasy relationship with Kemp. The governor resisted Trump’s pressure not to certify Biden’s presidential electors before the Electoral College convened in December of the election year. Trump criticized Kemp in the years after and backed a primary challenger, former Sen. David Perdue, against the governor in 2022. Kemp trounced Perdue and coasted in the general election.
By 2024, Kemp and Trump managed a detente as Trump worked to return Georgia to the GOP presidential column. But behind the scenes. the alliance has been fragile and circumstantial. and Kemp’s decision to recruit Dooley in the first place—placing emphasis on the need for a political outsider—has also been a subtle rejection of Trump’s domination of the party.
During campaign stops alongside Dooley, Kemp has reminded voters that Republicans have not won a Senate election in Georgia since 2016, when Trump was first elected. Each time, the GOP nominee has fully embraced Trump.
Collins pushed back on Kemp’s framing. He said his record in Washington shows he can be staunchly conservative. align with Trump. and still court moderates who may not like the president. Collins has sponsored the Laken Riley Act, a 2025 law that requires immigrants be detained when charged with certain crimes. Republicans argue the issue hurts Ossoff because he initially voted against the measure before supporting it after Trump returned to the White House.
Collins noted that dozens of Democrats supported the measure.
“Bipartisan is not a bad word,” he said, arguing that metropolitan voters will reward him for results.
Kemp, meanwhile, deviated from his Senate message on Sunday as he endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in the GOP’s primary runoff for government. That choice puts Kemp on the side as Trump—who endorsed Jones last year—and against billionaire businessman Rick Jackson, who has run as an outsider like Dooley.
Dooley’s race is playing out inside a party where Trump has been winning over loyalty tests. In a matter of weeks. Trump has celebrated victories over Republicans who did not pass his standard of loyalty: Cornyn lost to Paxton; U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky lost to Ed Gallrein; U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana failed to make a runoff; and several Indiana state senators were defeated by challengers.
Dooley’s path depends on Georgia looking more like Iowa, where Trump was unable to lift U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra to victory in the state’s gubernatorial primary. Dooley has told voters he will “work with President Trump but fight for you.”
He will campaign again Monday, and Kemp will be at his side.
Georgia Senate runoff Mike Collins Donald Trump endorsement Derek Dooley Jon Ossoff Brian Kemp Laken Riley Act 2020 election claims