ATLANTA — There is still more than a year from the 2026 midterm election, but in battleground Georgia the race for Senate is heating up.
U.S. Rep. Mike Collins officially announced on Monday that he is running for Senate, as Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King just last week announced he was suspending his campaign in the race.
Collins now joins fellow Republican U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter in the race to unseat Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff.
“So, in these primaries, you tend to have to go pretty far to the right,” University of North Georgia political science professor Nathan Price told Channel 2’s Richard Elliot.
Both Collins and Carter are trying to court the GOP base as both men hope to get President Trump’s endorsement.
Price isn’t surprised that both men are racing to the right.
RELATED STORIES:
- Insurance Commissioner John King suspends campaign for U.S. Senate
- Gov. Kemp announces decision on Senate run in 2026, ending speculation
- With Brian Kemp not running for Senate, which Georgia Republicans could challenge Jon Ossoff?
He thinks it’s necessary to win the GOP primary but cautions that going too far right could turn off moderate voters in places like Cobb and North Fulton counties, places where voters like Republican Gov. Brian Kemp but don’t much care for Trump.
“If you move too far to the right where you are not able to win those highly educated, suburban voters in those swing states, it makes the math very difficult,” Price said.
Kemp reportedly told the Republican Senate campaigns he wouldn’t endorse any of them, something that may have led to King’s exit from the race last week.
Kemp reportedly plans to endorse his longtime family friend Derek Dooley once Dooley decides if he wants to run.
Either way, the Republicans could be in for a messy and expensive primary - something they wanted to avoid.
“The Republicans to have a good shot at this seat want to avoid a messy primary fight that causes them to spend a lot of resources before they even get their chance at that general election,” Price said.
Elliot reached out to people close to Dooley to see if he could get a hint of when and if he may make a decision to run. So far, he hasn’t heard back from them.
©2025 Cox Media Group
