The Senate Runoff: Collins First, But Not Done

Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) finished first in Tuesday's Republican Senate primary with roughly 41% of the vote. Not enough to avoid a runoff.

Former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley came in second at approximately 30%. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) finished third at around 25% — and he's done, according to the Associated Press.

Collins and Dooley face off again on June 16.

The winner takes on Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) in November. Ossoff, first elected in January 2021, is widely considered one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents in the country. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 Senate majority and want to pad it.

Pre-primary polling from RealClear Polling showed Ossoff still leading all three Republican contenders in a hypothetical general election matchup — Collins by the narrowest margin at 2.8 points.

Trump made no endorsement in this race. He backed Jones early in the governor's race but stayed out of the Senate contest entirely, telling reporters in October he was "following that race very carefully" without committing. His absence removes a potential consolidating force heading into the runoff.

Gov. Brian Kemp — term-limited and not a candidate himself — endorsed Dooley, a family friend and son of legendary UGA coach Vince Dooley. Kemp's backing gave Dooley establishment credibility and fundraising cover. Dooley leaned into his outsider status hard Tuesday night: "They counted us out. They said that Mike Collins had this race in the bag. We proved them dead wrong."

Collins pushed back with a results argument: "You don't beat Jon Ossoff with no record. You win by having a record of results."

Both men are making the same bet — that their version of "the right Republican" beats Ossoff in November. One of them is wrong.

The Governor's Race: Jones vs. Jackson — $80 Million Buys a Runoff

On the governor's side, Trump-endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones leads with roughly 36.7%. Billionaire health care executive Rick Jackson sits just behind at 34.5%, according to NBC News, which called the race with only 29% of votes in.

The Associated Press confirmed a runoff. June 16, again.

Jackson dumped $80 million of his own money into the race — a staggering sum for a Georgia primary. He entered the race earlier this year and immediately scrambled the field. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Attorney General Chris Carr both competed Tuesday and appear to have come up short.

Jackson's pitch is essentially the Trump playbook without Trump: businessman, outsider, anti-establishment. "Like President Trump, I don't owe anybody anything," Jackson said in ads. Trump, for his part, went with Jones — one of the few prominent Georgia Republicans who backed Trump's 2020 recount efforts.

Trump's endorsement of Jones came early in the campaign. Whether Georgia Republican primary voters agree on June 16 is a different question entirely.

The Story Everyone Is Ignoring: Election Night Courtroom Chaos

On primary day itself — May 19 — a legal fight broke out in Georgia over who gets to watch the vote tallying happen.

Three candidates filed an emergency motion in Fulton County Superior Court demanding that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger allow State Election Board members to observe statewide results aggregation at what some call the "bunker" — an emergency operations center where vote totals are uploaded to Georgia's election reporting system. Actual ballots are NOT counted there, but the aggregation process happens inside, and the plaintiffs wanted bipartisan observers in the room.

Chief Judge Ural Glanville granted the temporary restraining order. State Sen. Greg Dolezal, one of the plaintiffs, posted on X: "Transparency wins."

Then, hours later, Glanville voided his own order.

The reason: plaintiffs failed to notify the Georgia Attorney General's office of their legal challenge before filing — a procedural requirement under Georgia law when suing a state official. Glanville's written ruling called the original TRO "legally and procedurally void."

The conflict was stark: the Attorney General they were required to notify — Chris Carr — was himself a candidate in the same governor's primary. And the Secretary of State they were suing — Brad Raffensperger — was also a candidate in that same race.

Two statewide officials with direct roles in running Tuesday's election were simultaneously competing in it.

Two GOP Supreme Court Justices Hold Their Seats

On a quieter note, Republican-appointed Georgia Supreme Court Justices Charlie Bethel and Sarah Warren both won reelection Tuesday, defeating Democratic-backed challengers, according to Decision Desk. The court stays red.

What This All Means

Georgia has two enormous runoffs on June 16 that will shape the 2026 midterms in a state that's been the epicenter of American political drama for five straight years.

The Senate race is genuinely competitive — either Collins or Dooley can make a real run at Ossoff, but neither is certain to win, and the polling says Ossoff still has the edge heading in.

The governor's race comes down to whether $80 million beats a Trump endorsement.

And underlying all of it: a primary day in which candidates who were running the election were also running in it — and the court challenge to that situation got thrown out on a technicality.