The Peach State delivered a political earthquake Tuesday night as voters reshaped the Republican ticket for November. In a bruising Senate runoff, Rep. Mike Collins, bolstered by a last-minute nod from President Donald Trump, defeated former college football coach Derek Dooley. The victory sets up a high-stakes general election clash against Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, a race that could determine control of the U.S. Senate.
But the night’s biggest shock came in the governor’s race. Political newcomer and healthcare CEO Rick Jackson, who grew up in the foster care system before building a fortune, clinched the GOP nomination against Lt. Gov. Burt Jones. Despite Trump’s endorsement of Jones, Jackson’s outsider appeal and business pedigree proved too strong. He now faces former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in the fall.
The Georgia runoffs were a test of Trump’s enduring influence. While Collins rode the president’s coattails to victory, Jones’ loss signals that even Trump’s backing isn’t a guaranteed win. Adding to the intrigue, Donald Trump Jr. publicly praised Jackson on the eve of the election, calling him “a good man” and a patriot, even as his father campaigned for Jones.
Ossoff, armed with a staggering $32.5 million war chest and a polling lead, immediately went on the attack. He branded Collins a “notorious bigot, antisemite, and extremist” under federal investigation. The senator, who won his seat on the same day as the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, has made anti-corruption the centerpiece of his campaign.
Meanwhile, in Oklahoma, Rep. Kevin Hern won the Republican Senate primary, while voters in Alabama and Washington, D.C., also headed to the polls. In the capital, the mayoral primary between democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George and establishment favorite Kenyan McDuffie has drawn Trump’s ire. The president threatened to revoke the city’s self-governance if Lewis George wins, promising a federal takeover.
The night’s results underscore a fractured Republican Party, where business outsiders and Trump loyalists vie for dominance. For Democrats, the path to keeping the Senate runs through Georgia, where Ossoff remains the party’s best-funded and most formidable candidate.
