The Trump endorsement of Mike Collins has reshaped the final stretch of Georgia’s Republican Senate runoff, handing the congressman a powerful boost as he heads into Tuesday’s decisive vote. Speaking at a campaign stop in the northern Atlanta exurbs on Sunday, Collins celebrated the president’s late-night blessing and brushed aside any suggestion that being tied so closely to Trump could become a liability against Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff in November.

Trump announced his pick in a middle-of-the-night social media post, praising the second-term congressman for his loyalty and choosing him over former football coach Derek Dooley.

Collins Embraces the MAGA Label

For Collins, the endorsement was both validation and ammunition. He praised what he described as Trump’s uncanny knack for stepping in at exactly the right moment, framing the president’s support as a sign of momentum heading into the runoff.

Looking past Dooley toward a likely general-election clash with Ossoff, Collins made clear he would welcome Trump to campaign in Georgia despite the president’s softening approval numbers. He said he’d be glad to host Trump in the state any day he wanted to visit.

A trucking company owner who has represented Georgia in the House since 2023, Collins has aligned himself with the MAGA movement since his first congressional campaign in 2022. In his announcement, Trump called him a true friend, fighter, and “WARRIOR,” noting that Collins had stood with him from the very beginning.

The Contrast With Derek Dooley

Trump’s post didn’t just praise Collins — it took aim at his rival. The president wrote that he didn’t know Dooley and suggested few others did either, while pointedly noting that Dooley had not voted in 2016 or 2020, both years when Trump was on the ballot.

Dooley, the son of legendary University of Georgia coach Vince Dooley, has acknowledged going nearly two decades without voting but says he backed Trump in 2024. He has also drawn the president’s ire for an inconvenient truth: Dooley has accurately stated that Trump lost Georgia to Joe Biden in 2020, declining to endorse the president’s false claim that the election was stolen.

Collins, by contrast, has consistently echoed Trump’s debunked narrative. On Sunday, he went so far as to call the 2020 election “legitimately rigged,” pointing to expanded absentee voting and what he characterized as loosened election controls in Georgia and elsewhere.

How the Race Got Here

Neither candidate cleared the 50% threshold needed to win outright in the May 19 primary. Collins finished first with roughly 41% of the vote, ahead of Dooley’s 30%, with Representative Buddy Carter trailing at about 25% before being eliminated. That left a substantial pool of Republican voters up for grabs heading into the runoff.

Trump’s endorsement carries real weight as he continues to mold the party in his own image. But it also places him squarely at odds with more traditional Republicans, most notably outgoing Governor Brian Kemp, who recruited Dooley and has campaigned alongside him.

A Proxy Battle With Kemp

The runoff has become a proxy war between Trump and Kemp, two figures whose alliance has always been uneasy. Their rift dates back to 2020, when Kemp resisted Trump’s pressure to overturn Biden’s victory in the state.

Trump later backed a primary challenger against Kemp in 2022, only to watch the governor win decisively. The two reached a fragile truce by 2024 as Trump worked to flip Georgia back into the Republican column, but the partnership has remained circumstantial at best.

Kemp’s decision to recruit Dooley, emphasizing the need for a political outsider, amounted to a quiet pushback against Trump’s grip on the GOP. On the trail, the governor has reminded voters that Republicans haven’t won a Senate race in Georgia since 2016. He points to first-term senators like Montana’s Tim Sheehy, Pennsylvania’s Dave McCormick, and Ohio’s Bernie Moreno, who won in 2024 as outsiders aligned with Trump but not defined by him.

Collins Pushes Back

Collins rejects that framing. He argues his record proves he can be staunchly conservative, loyal to Trump, and still appeal to moderate voters who may not love the president.

He frequently highlights his sponsorship of the Laken Riley Act, the 2025 law requiring the detention of immigrants charged with certain crimes. Republicans believe the issue hurts Ossoff, who initially opposed the measure before supporting it. Collins also noted that dozens of Democrats backed the bill, declaring that “bipartisan is not a bad word” and predicting metropolitan voters will reward results.

On Sunday, Collins barely mentioned Kemp or Dooley, instead training his fire on Ossoff. From the bed of a pickup truck, he told supporters the senator doesn’t reflect Georgia’s values and “shouldn’t even be there.”

Confidence on Both Sides

Dooley remains defiant. He responded to Trump’s endorsement by arguing that Georgians don’t want “typical D.C. politicians like Mike Collins,” insisting in a post on X that the most important endorsement is that of the Georgia people. He continues to bill himself as the candidate best positioned to defeat Ossoff, the only Democratic senator up for reelection in a state Trump carried in 2024.

Among Collins supporters, the enthusiasm was palpable. James Haddad, a 66-year-old retired engineer from Woodstock, said Trump had studied the candidates carefully before making the right call. Notably, Haddad added that while he voted for Kemp twice and respects him, the governor’s preference didn’t factor into his Senate choice.

Trump’s Winning Streak — and Its Limits

The Dooley-Kemp argument runs up against Trump’s recent dominance in Republican primaries. In just weeks, the president has watched loyalty tests topple several incumbents and rivals: John Cornyn fell to Ken Paxton in Texas, Kentucky’s Thomas Massie lost his seat, Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy failed to reach a runoff, and several Indiana state senators were ousted.

Still, Trump’s touch isn’t infallible. In Iowa, he was unable to lift Representative Randy Feenstra to victory in the gubernatorial primary — a reminder that Dooley’s path, while narrow, isn’t impossible.

Dooley has summed up his pitch simply: he’ll “work with President Trump but fight for you.” He plans to campaign again Monday, with Kemp once more at his side, as both camps make their closing arguments before Tuesday’s vote.

What’s at Stake

With control of the Senate potentially hinging on races like this one, Georgia’s runoff has drawn intense national attention. The outcome will not only determine who challenges Ossoff in one of the cycle’s marquee contests, but will also serve as a fresh measure of Trump’s enduring influence — and Kemp’s resistance to it — within a party increasingly shaped in the president’s image.