Mike Collins Wins GOP Senate Runoff in Georgia

Washington — Rep. Mike Collins will face Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in November after winning the Republican Senate runoff in Georgia on Tuesday night.

CBS News projects that Collins defeated Derek Dooley, a former college football coach. The race went to a runoff after no candidate reached 50 percent in last month's primary, which eliminated Rep. Buddy Carter.

Collins, who owns a trucking business and has represented Georgia in the House since 2023, finished first with nearly 41 percent of the vote. Dooley, an attorney and former University of Tennessee football coach who is the son of legendary University of Georgia coach Vince Dooley, received about 30 percent.

President Trump endorsed Collins on Sunday, calling him a "true Friend, Fighter, and WARRIOR, who has been with us from the very beginning." The endorsement came despite Gov. Brian Kemp's support for Dooley and highlighted tensions between Trump and Kemp over the governor's resistance to Trump's efforts to challenge Georgia's 2020 presidential election results.

Collins campaigned as a strong Trump supporter and highlighted his sponsorship of an immigration bill named for Laken Riley, the Georgia nursing student murdered by an undocumented immigrant in 2024. Dooley presented himself as a political outsider willing to work with Trump.

After Trump's endorsement, Dooley said on X that "the most important endorsement is that of the Georgia people" and argued he was better positioned to defeat Ossoff.

In his victory speech, Collins said he had spoken with Dooley and Kemp on election night and both were "on board." He told supporters the unified goal was to "put a Republican in that seat and get rid of ... Jon Ossoff in November."

Republicans have long targeted Ossoff, the only Democrat seeking reelection in a state Trump won in 2024. Ossoff, 39, won his seat in 2021 as part of the Democratic sweep of Georgia's Senate runoffs. No Republican has won a Senate seat in Georgia since 2016.

The state is viewed as critical to Senate control. Democrats hope to flip four seats while defending their own, and Republicans see defeating Ossoff as a top priority. Collins predicted a difficult race and said national Democrats would work hard to reelect Ossoff. He described Ossoff as an "out-of-touch far-left liberal."

Ossoff called Collins an "extremist" and linked him to Trump's trade policies, the Iran war and last year's tax law. Democrats may also highlight ethics allegations against Collins involving congressional funds, which the House Ethics Committee is investigating. Collins has denied the claims.