Georgia’s U.S. Senate race heats up as Ossoff, GOP rivals make candidacy official 

The race is on for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat this week after the major candidates from both parties officially signed up to run. On the Democratic side, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is seeking to defend the seat he won in a tight 2021 runoff. Ossoff is the only Democratic senator up for re-election this year […]

The race is on for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat this week after the major candidates from both parties officially signed up to run.

On the Democratic side, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is seeking to defend the seat he won in a tight 2021 runoff.

Ossoff is the only Democratic senator up for re-election this year in a state won by President Donald Trump in 2024, so his seat is considered a prime target for Republicans and a must-win for Democrats who want a chance of flipping the Senate.

He’ll face off in November against the winner of May’s GOP primary, where the top dogs are Congressmen Mike Collins and Buddy Carter along with former football coach Derek Dooley, who entered the race with the endorsement of Gov. Brian Kemp.

In the dollars race, at least, Ossoff is the clear leader, according to quarterly fundraising totals released at the start of the year.

Ossoff raised nearly $10 million in the last three months of 2025, ringing in the new year with more than $25 million cash on hand, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

Speaking to a crowd of supporters outside the state Capitol after qualifying Monday, Ossoff sought to tie his opponents to Trump.

Ossoff laid out a litany of criticisms against Trump’s policies, blaming him for rising costs, a lack of affordable health care and the recently launched war in Iran.

“The president was dancing at his beach club the same night he ordered air crews to launch into combat and hours before our service members endured missile salvos,” Ossoff said. “But our Constitution reserves for Congress, not for him, the decision to go to war.”

Ossoff accused the three Republican candidates of being willing to do anything Trump wants.

“These midterms will be among the most consequential in American history. Because if there were ever a moment that called for checks and balances, this is it. And my opponents have already made clear they will be Donald Trump’s puppets,” Ossoff said.

A three-way GOP race

A Trump endorsement would likely provide a major boost in the primary, but the president has not endorsed any candidate in the race.

Collins is seeking to frame himself as the frontrunner on the Republican side A Real Clear Politics average of polls conducted between July and February has Collins at the head of the GOP pack with a nearly 12-point advantage over Carter and about 19 points over Dooley.

Collins raised just under $825,000 in the last part of 2025 and started out January with $2.3 million.

Speaking to reporters while flanked by supporters at the Capitol Tuesday, Collins focused his fire on Ossoff, seeking to characterize him as an out-of-touch liberal elite.

“We feel good about where we sit in this race,” he said. “This is an important election coming up in the midterms because we have a U.S. senator that does not represent the state of Georgia, the people, or the values of Georgia. I mean, when you think about this, Jon Ossoff is basically California’s third senator.”

Collins offered support for the attacks on Iran, referring to them as good, surgical strikes that prevented American deaths and are not likely to lead to blowback.

He also played it cool about the lack of a Trump endorsement so far.

“The president has always had the impeccable ability to put his name on someone at the right time to get the most bang for his buck,” he said. “People of this state understand who I am though. They understand that I am an America First MAGA candidate. They also understand that I know how to get things done in Washington, D.C., for the future.”

But speaking to reporters after qualifying Monday, Carter said he’s the true MAGA torchbearer.

“We need to make sure that we replace Jon Ossoff, and in order to do that, you got to have the right candidate, the person who can win,” he said. “And we’re that candidate. We’re the one who has supported President Trump and his America First policies, and we’re the one who’s going to continue to do that.”

Carter has expressed support for the Iran war in interviews, saying on CNN that Trump “has saved millions of lives in the future” by launching the attack.

Carter reported bringing in $1.7 million in his latest filing, which includes a $1 million loan from his own wallet, and reported a war chest of $4.1 million at the start of January, the highest on the GOP side. He said hard work and ground game will be key to a Carter victory.

“We’re all over the state,” he said. “I can tell you nobody’s going to outwork us, and we have been throughout the state. We continue to do that, and we’ll do that all the way up to the very last minute, getting the word out. And the word and the momentum is spreading.”

Dooley entered the race with the blessing and support of Kemp, a popular Republican governor whose relationship with Trump has been rocky in the past.

Dooley raised a little more than $1 million in the fourth quarter and reported $2.1 million on hand at the start of the year.

Speaking to reporters after qualifying on Tuesday, Dooley sought to contrast himself as a political outsider.

“It’s going to be very easy to distinguish between me and the other two guys in the race,” he said. “I’m not a part of the political establishment. I’m not a part of what’s going on in Congress that I think frustrates the American people. And I’m offering voters here an opportunity to send somebody to DC that’s going to put them first.”

Dooley also expressed confidence in the Trump administration’s ability to deal with the war in Iran without getting the nation bogged down in a protracted war.

The former University of Tennessee football coach and son of legendary University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley said he had spoken with the president about a potential endorsement.

“I had a wonderful meeting in the Oval Office, and obviously, everybody would be honored to have President Trump’s endorsement,” he said. “But the most important endorsement is the people of Georgia’s endorsement, and that’s really what my focus has been the last seven months, and certainly, it’s the most important focus here going forward in the next two months.”

Candidate qualifying runs through noon Friday.

Reporter Maya Homan contributed to this report.

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