Donald Trump endorsed Mike Collins in the Georgia Republican Senate runoff on Tuesday, putting his weight behind a candidate who had already emerged from the first round with a clear base of support. Collins is now set to face Derek Dooley for the Republican nomination to challenge Jon Ossoff in November.
The endorsement came after early voting had already ended, which means its practical effect may depend less on turnout and more on whether it hardens the choice for voters who have not yet cast a ballot. That is the basic math of the runoff: with no more early votes to chase, each remaining vote on Tuesday carries more weight than it would have in a longer race.
Trump called Collins a staunch supporter of his Make America Great Again movement and described him as a true friend, fighter and WARRIOR. Collins had already finished the May 19 Republican primary with about 40 percent of the vote, ahead of Dooley’s roughly 30 percent. Buddy Carter came in a close third, leaving Collins and Dooley to settle the race in the Republican run-off.
That is why the endorsement matters now. It arrives at the point in the campaign when the contest is being decided, not introduced, and it places Trump on one side of a fight that also draws in Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, who backed Dooley. Dooley has argued that he did not vote in 2016 or 2020 when Trump was on the ballot, and he has said the election results in Georgia were legitimate.
The clash is bigger than the two men on the runoff ballot. The winner will move on to challenge Ossoff in November, when Republicans are trying to protect a slim 53-seat majority in the 100-member chamber and Democrats are aiming for control of both the House and the Senate. Georgia has moved sharply across the political map in recent cycles, swinging away from long Republican dominance, then back toward Trump in 2024, and the state again sits at the center of the fight for the Senate.
The unresolved question is not whether Trump helped Collins in the abstract; it is whether a late endorsement can still move enough voters after early voting has closed. Other recent races suggest the answer is mixed. Trump’s endorsement of Ken Paxton was seen as helping him defeat John Cornyn in Texas, while his late backing of Randy Feenstra did not give him the boost needed to beat Zach Lahn in Iowa. In Georgia, the final test comes Tuesday, and Collins now has Trump at his back as the race enters its last hours.
