UMVA has learned that former President Donald Trump threw his full backing behind Rep. Mike Collins in Georgia’s fierce Republican Senate runoff, delivering a blistering endorsement just days before voters head to the polls.
In a fiery post, Trump hailed Collins as a “warrior and winner,” emphasizing the long‑standing loyalty that has kept the congressman by his side from the very beginning.
Turning his gaze to Collins’ rival, former football coach Derek Dooley, Trump dismissed the challenger with a curt remark, “I don’t know Derek Dooley, and neither does anyone else, but he seems like a nice person,” while underscoring Dooley’s absence from the 2016 and 2020 ballots and his acknowledgment that Trump lost Georgia in 2020.
This endorsement sharpens the clash between Trump’s MAGA loyalists and Governor Brian Kemp, the state’s establishment figure who has thrown his weight behind Dooley in the battle to unseat Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff.
Dooley responded with a measured tone, expressing respect for Trump yet insisting he remains the strongest Republican contender for the general election, declaring, “A vote for Mike Collins is a vote for Jon Ossoff — but a vote for me is a vote for the people of Georgia.”
Collins entered the runoff riding a wave of momentum, capturing 40.5 % of the vote in the initial round, while Dooley lagged at 30 %, leaving both men short of the majority needed to avoid a second round.
The race has erupted into one of the nation’s most closely watched Republican primaries, with GOP strategists eyeing Georgia as a pivotal battleground in the upcoming midterms and a potential springboard to expand their Senate majority.
Both campaigns courted Trump’s blessing for months; Collins aligned himself tightly with the MAGA movement and secured support from the Club for Growth, while Dooley leaned on the governor’s endorsement.
Trump’s late‑stage endorsement arrives a mere two days before Tuesday’s runoff, compressing the window for Collins to translate presidential applause into voter turnout.
Meanwhile, Sen. Jon Ossoff has reportedly amassed a sizable war chest, setting the stage for what could become one of the most expensive and consequential Senate battles in the country.
