Georgia Republicans were voting Tuesday to settle their nominees for U.S. Senate, governor and several other offices after no one cleared a majority in the May 19 primary. The runoff will decide which Republicans go on to the November ballot, including the party’s challenge to U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff.
The Senate race came down to U.S. Rep. Mike Collins and former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley, with Collins the top vote-getter in the primary field of five at about 41% and Dooley close behind at about 30%. U.S. Rep. Earl "Buddy" Carter finished third with about 25% and was not in the runoff.
Dooley’s path was unusual. He carried only 14 of Georgia’s 159 counties, yet he won five of the six most populous ones: Fulton County, Gwinnett County, Cobb County, DeKalb County and Clayton County. He also took Clarke County. That kind of county map matters because a candidate can lose many rural counties and still stay close if the biggest population centers break his way.
Collins, though, entered the runoff with broader support across more rural counties and a stronger share of the primary vote. That split is the race’s central friction point: Dooley had the big-county edge, but Collins had the larger base of primary voters behind him, and Trump’s Sunday endorsement of Collins added national weight while outgoing Republican Gov. Brian Kemp backed Dooley.
The governor’s race carried the same kind of regional divide. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones led the primary with about 38% and won small rural counties across the state, while healthcare executive Rick Jackson followed with about 33% and picked up narrow wins in larger counties like Fulton County and some of the Atlanta suburbs. Kemp endorsed Jones on Sunday, making the runoff a test of whether the Trump-Kemp pairings could turn primary edges into final nominations.
The was set to provide results and declare winners in the runoff contests for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, insurance commissioner, state school superintendent, labor commissioner and public service commissioner. The broader result will shape not just the party’s November ticket, but how Georgia Republicans try to defend their hold on competitive statewide races when the general election arrives.
The unanswered question is simple: whether Collins’ wider base or Dooley’s strength in the state’s biggest counties will decide the Senate nomination. When the results are final, Georgia Republicans will know who gets the right to face Ossoff — and which faction of the party is carrying the louder argument into November.
