President Donald Trump's endorsement in Georgia's Republican Senate primary runoff has triggered sharp anxiety within the state GOP, and party strategists are warning that could cost them a crucial seat this fall.
The 80-year-old president endorsed Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) days before Tuesday's primary runoff against Derek Dooley, the former football coach backed by Gov. Brian Kemp. The MAGA congressman had led Dooley by 10 points in the May 19 primary, but Republicans fear his conservative profile — built for a reliably red congressional district — will not translate to a general election audience, reported MS NOW.
“If you went to a laboratory and tried to create the worst general election candidate for this state and environment possible, you couldn’t do better than Mike Collins,” said one prominent Georgia Republican strategist.
“He has a ton of personal baggage and won’t be able to raise money," that GOP strategist said, speaking anonymously to avoid political repercussions. "He possesses the unique ability to offend female voters with that personal baggage but also with the hardest right abortion stance you can have. He will lose the Atlanta metro in unprecedented fashion, and we have to hope he doesn’t take everyone else down with him.”
Collins has falsely claimed Trump won Georgia in 2020, faces an Office of Congressional Conduct probe into potential misuse of office resources and previously expressed support for banning abortion without exceptions. His campaign now says he supports the state's heartbeat law, which includes limited exceptions, but strategists say the reversal underscores the difficulty of repositioning him for a broader electorate.
Georgia has shifted into genuine battleground territory, with Republicans losing three consecutive Senate races in which Trump's influence was a significant factor — including the 2021 runoffs that handed Democrats the Senate majority, and Herschel Walker's 2022 loss to incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock.
Compounding Republican worries is the financial picture. Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff currently holds a cash-on-hand advantage of more than $30 million over either Republican challenger, leaving whichever candidate emerges from Tuesday's runoff facing an immediate need to consolidate the party base before competing for swing voters.
Dooley himself warned voters before the runoff that "a vote for Mike Collins is a vote for Jon Ossoff."
Democrats view holding Georgia as nearly essential to any path back to a Senate majority. Ossoff, speaking at a recent rally, showed little concern about his Republican opposition and kept his focus squarely on the White House, calling Trump "a failed president and a national disgrace."
