Rep. Mike Collins is headed for a runoff after placing first, but failing to beat the 50% threshold in Georgia’s hotly contested Republican Senate primary on Tuesday.
Mr. Collins will face off against either Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter or college football coach Derek Dooley in a June 16 special election. The winner of the runoff will battle to defeat incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Democrat who flipped the once-red seat in 2020.
With less than 40% of the vote counted, Mr. Carter and Mr. Dooley were neck-and-neck for second place late Tuesday. Mr. Collins was leading with more than 41% of the vote.
Mr. Collins has been at the top of every poll and has been running his campaign like a general election candidate, attacking Mr. Ossoff and paying less attention to Mr. Dooley, a former University of Tennessee football coach or Mr. Carter.
President Trump has stayed out of the primary but could help tip the runoff’s outcome by endorsing a candidate.
Mr. Collins describes himself as “a conservative workhorse” who will deliver on Mr. Trump’s America First agenda.
He embarked on a statewide tour, knocking on doors and talking directly to voters.
Mr. Dooley has the endorsement of popular two-term Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, a one-time Trump ally who infuriated the president in 2020 after refusing to challenge the state’s presidential election results that narrowly favored President Joe Biden. Mr. Kemp’s approval rating in Georgia is far higher than Mr. Trump’s.
Mr. Collins took a jab at Mr. Dooley’s support from the governor.
“The political establishment had the money. We had the message,” he said.
Mr. Collins is backed by the Club for Growth PAC.
He promoted his efforts to pass the Laken Riley Act, a bill he sponsored and named after a 22-year-old nursing student murdered by an illegal immigrant near the University of Georgia campus.
The measure requires immigration officials to detain and deport illegal immigrants who commit crimes and allows states to sue the Homeland Security Department if immigration policies harm states.
This week, Mr. Kemp campaigned alongside Mr. Dooley, describing him as an anti-establishment candidate who can reclaim the Senate seat for Republicans.
“I believe our best chance of beating Jon Ossoff is to have a political outsider to do that,” Mr. Kemp said on Monday.
Mr. Dooley said if elected, he would serve only two terms in the Senate and would not trade stocks while in office. He also pledged to vote to withhold lawmakers’ pay during a government shutdown.
Mr. Dooley was trailing in third place in the polls, but a surge in April and May launched him into second place. He was leading Mr. Carter slightly in Tuesday’s election results. If he prevails, he’d face Mr. Collins in the runoff.
“It’s time we sent a different kind of leader up to D.C.,” he told supporters at a campaign event.
Mr. Carter ran as a “MAGA warrior,” but began trailing Mr. Dooley ahead of the primary.
He said during campaign stops across Georgia that he could “carry the message and deliver the message” and beat Mr. Ossoff. He attacked Mr. Dooley as someone who has never voted for Mr. Trump and would not bring “Georgia values” to the Senate.
Three other candidates were on the ballot Tuesday but did not garner much support.
The runoff could make it harder for the GOP to reclaim the seat by dragging out an expensive Republican battle for a spot on the November ballot, while Mr. Ossoff and the Democratic Party can sit on the sidelines without spending any money.
An April Echelon Insights poll shows Mr. Ossoff running 8 points ahead of Dooley and 7 points ahead of Collins in a general election matchup.
