Georgia GOP Senate Runoff Pits Trump-Endorsed Collins Against Dooley
A Trump endorsement tests its electoral weight in Georgia's Senate primary runoff, a race that will determine which Republican faces the general election for a seat that both parties view as...
Georgia voters went to the polls Tuesday, June 16, 2026, for a Republican Senate primary runoff between Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) and former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley, according to CBS News. Collins holds a formal endorsement from former President Donald Trump, a factor that has defined the race's closing argument.
Collins, who represents Georgia's 10th Congressional District, entered the runoff after neither candidate secured the outright majority required under Georgia election law in the earlier primary round. Georgia law mandates a runoff when no candidate clears 50 percent of the vote in the initial primary (O.C.G.A. § 21-2-501). The specific vote totals from the initial primary that triggered the runoff were not available in the source material reviewed; Georgia Secretary of State certified results would confirm those figures.
Dooley, who has no prior elected office on record in public databases, positioned his campaign around political outsider credentials. No campaign finance totals through the most recent FEC filing deadline were included in the available source material. Full fundraising and expenditure figures for both candidates are publicly available through FEC.gov under each candidate's committee filings.
The Senate seat is currently held by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), who won a January 2021 runoff (Georgia Secretary of State certified results, January 19, 2021). Ossoff faces reelection in November 2026, making the Republican primary outcome directly consequential to the general election landscape.
What remains unknown as of publication: the final vote totals from Tuesday's runoff, which the Georgia Secretary of State will certify in the days following the election. It is also unknown whether either candidate has secured commitments from major outside spending groups; that information would be disclosed in FEC independent expenditure filings, which are updated continuously at FEC.gov.