Mike Collins' victory proves Trump still owns Georgia GOP, but Jon Ossoff won't be an easy opponent

ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Donald Trump made one phone call on Sunday: Tuesday night saw the defeat of Derek Dooley, the favored candidate of Georgia Governor Brian Kemp.

Republican Rep Mike Collins won the GOP nomination for Georgia’s US Senate race, bolstered by Trump’s late endorsement, setting up a high-stakes showdown in November with Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff. The result ended one of the most closely followed Republican primaries of the 2026 cycle. More than just a primary victory, Collins' win became a test of influence inside Georgia's Republican Party.

Trump's grip tightens as Kemp suffers a setback

Collins’s win underscored a familiar reality in Republican politics: Trump’s endorsement still carries a great deal of weight with GOP primary voters, even in an off-year election and even when it’s just days before ballots are cast.

The result shows that even after leaving office and years of political warfare, Trump still dictates the direction of Georgia’s Republican base.

For Kemp, the loss is more complicated. The term-limited governor remains one of the Republican Party's most popular figures in Georgia and has been mentioned as a possible 2028 presidential contender.

But Dooley's defeat amounts to a proxy loss in a direct contest of influence against Trump, a reminder that while Kemp may dominate statewide governing politics, Trump still commands the Republican primary electorate.

Collins, first elected to the House in 2022, has pitched himself as a staunch Trump ally, saying in a recent debate that he is a “conservative workhorse.” And he has already started to lay out his case against Ossoff, who was elected to the Senate in a runoff following the 2020 election.

Jon Ossoff now becomes Collins' biggest challenge

Winning the Republican nomination may ultimately prove to be the easier part of Collins' campaign.

With no competitive Democratic primary, Ossoff has had months to get ready for the general election, spending his time fundraising, organizing and defining Collins before Republicans chose a nominee.

He also has won statewide before, successfully running for his Senate seat in Georgia’s hotly contested 2021 runoff election, despite intense national focus.

Ossoff has also begun to make his case against Collins, saying at a recent rally that Collins is “a congressman who’s only a congressman because his daddy was a congressman.”

Collins' close alignment with Trump helped him secure the Republican nomination, but Democrats are expected to use that same connection to energize their own voters in November.

Collins represents a very Republican district and is a staunch conservative who has stayed close to Trump.

Asked after a campaign event last month if he disagreed with any of Trump’s actions in his second term, Collins told NBC News he disagrees with Trump on the hours of sleep needed to function, noting that Trump doesn’t get much sleep.

“Listen, I ran on Trump policies. I ran on ‘America First.’ I know what those policies did and can do for this country and for the people of this country. That’s what I’m running with, and he is — I wholeheartedly support what he’s been doing,” Collins said.

“It doesn’t matter which one wins,” Ossoff said at a recent rally, referring to the GOP runoff. “They’re both corrupt political insiders, and they’re both pro-war, pro-tariff and pro-cutting your healthcare. They’re both Trump puppets, and we’ll beat either one of them in November.”