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Updated on: June 16, 2026 / 8:41 PM EDT
/ CBS News
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Washington — Rep. Mike Collins will face off against Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in November as Republicans look to Georgia to deliver a key GOP victory that could determine control of the Senate. Collins won the Republican Senate runoff in Georgia on Tuesday night, CBS News projects, defeating Derek Dooley, a former college football coach.The contest went to a runoff after no candidate secured 50% of the vote in last month's primary, where a third candidate, Rep. Buddy Carter, was eliminated. Collins, the owner of a trucking business, has represented Georgia in the House since 2023 and finished first in the runoff with almost 41% of the vote. Dooley, an attorney who coached football at the University of Tennessee and is the son of legendary University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley, won around 30% of the vote last month.Collins secured a last-minute boost on Sunday when President Trump waded into the race, endorsing the two-term congressman over Dooley. The president called Collins a "true Friend, Fighter, and WARRIOR, who has been with us from the very beginning."Mr. Trump's endorsement highlighted a proxy battle between the president and Gov. Brian Kemp, who endorsed Collins' opponent. The president and Kemp have had a turbulent relationship, which was marked by the governor resisting Mr. Trump's efforts to intervene in Georgia's presidential election results in 2020.While Collins pitched himself as a staunch supporter of the president during the primary, like by touting his sponsorship of an immigration bill named for Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, who was murdered by an undocumented immigrant in 2024, Dooley didn't embrace Mr. Trump as readily. Dooley billed himself as a political outsider, while pledging to work with the president for Georgians. After the president's endorsement on Sunday, Dooley said on X that "the most important endorsement is that of the Georgia people," while arguing that he was better situated to beat Ossoff.With the runoff in the rearview, the GOP can now turn its attention to the general election, as Republicans for months have clamored over the chance to take on Ossoff.
