ATLANTA — Republican voters winnowed their field of candidates for U.S. Senate Tuesday, sending U.S. Rep. Mike Collins and former college football coach Derek Dooley to the June 16 primary runoff election.
Collins had the most votes in the field of five candidates, with Dooley and U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter vying for second place.
Just before 11 p.m., Dooley told supporters at Park Bench Battery at The Battery Atlanta that Carter had given him a call.
“Tonight, guys, we punched our ticket to the runoff,” Dooley told the cheering crowd.
Dooley’s wife, Allison, stood by his side, along with Gov. Brian Kemp and his wife Marty.
Last year, the term-limited governor bucked expectations, announcing he would not run for U.S. Senate against the incumbent Democrat, Jon Ossoff.
Instead, he backed Dooley, son of famed University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley.
Ossoff’s team had a tart retort after seeing the outcome.
“After Brian Kemp’s crushing refusal to run for Senate, Trump puppets Collins and Dooley have made themselves terminally inseparable from the toxic president,” the Ossoff campaign said.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat, an initiative of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
This article appears in 2026 Elections: Candidate lists, news.
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Type of Story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
