Senate race tight, Trump reinforcing support in Georgia runoff election

The second stage of the midterm election cycle in Georgia is coming to a close as voters head to the polls next week for the primary runoff race.

There are multiple races on both the Democratic and Republican ballots, but runoff elections for the Republican governor's race and U.S. Senate seat are being closely watched in the final days.

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is taking on healthcare CEO Rick Jackson to run against Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, in the November governor's race. The two Republicans have been locked in a fight for months as the party's frontrunners, and have spent much of their time on the campaign trail going after one another. Jones is the Trump-endorsed candidate, but Jackson has been campaigning to steal MAGA voters while presenting himself as a political outsider.

Bottoms, however, won her primary handily and has been presenting a united front with incumbent Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, running for reelection this fall. The two attended a rally in Atlanta last month to show a unified Democratic ticket, and endorsed each other for their respective offices.

Ossoff will have to take on the winner of a contested Republican Senate primary runoff, facing either Rep. Mike Collins or former college football coach Derek Dooley. Collins is the MAGA candidate in the race, but has not been endorsed by the president, despite reports his staff hired members of Trump's former campaign team.

Dooley represents the Gov. Brian Kemp-era Republican in Georgia, and is endorsed by the governor. However, the two have been wrapped up in a possible "pay-to-play" scandal between their families dating back to Kemp's first days in the governor's mansion.

The races for who will represent Republicans in Georgia are tight, and will likely come down to the wire on June 16.

Polls show Collins, Dooley equally matched

Both Collins and Dooley have faced controversy in their campaigns, which has become a central message for their opponent who has made anti-corruption a key tenet of his work.

Previously, Collins was subject to a House ethics investigation after he was accused of paying thousands of dollars to a woman romantically linked to one of his staffers for an extended period of time while she held no real position and did no work for his office. Collins has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing during the investigation and kept the staffer as part of his campaign.

That staffer was later fired by Collins after posting a social media comment on behalf of the Collins campaign mocking a woman who attempted suicide after accusing Matt Lauer of rape. The post was later deleted, and Collins apologized and called it "despicable and unauthorized." Collins was asked about the investigation into his staff by Dooley during an Atlanta Press Club debate, where he said "anybody can file a complaint," and he was ultimately proud of the work his team had done.

More recently, Dooley has been accused of being part of a "pay-to-play" scandal with the governor and his brother Daniel Dooley, according to reporting from 11Alive and other outlets. Daniel Dooley owns CENTEGIX, a company that sells panic button systems for school districts, a feature that was later made mandatory in Georgia schools by Kemp. School districts were issued grants that would cover the cost of the CENTEGIX system, and WSB-TV reported that by August 2025, 90% of the schools in Georgia used Dooley's product.

Daniel Dooley made millions of dollars and in turn donated more than $100,000 to Hardworking Americans, Kemp's political action committee, which is now funding Derek Dooley's Senate campaign.

Kemp has denied any accusations of wrongdoing, but state lawmakers have still requested an independent investigation during the general assembly's special session later this month.

Despite Kemp's work to use his popularity in the state and his seemingly professional relationship with President Trump following disagreements over the 2020 election to Dooley's advantage, the race between Dooley and Collins appears evenly matched going into Tuesday's race.

In polling from the end of May, Collins was predicted to win the runoff with varying degrees of support. Polls ranged from a win with 55% of the vote down to 46%, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Insider Advantage has yet to publish June polling ahead of the runoff, but in a post on X on Wednesday, they reported the two are "virtually tied for the GOP Senate nomination," and they were expecting a "photo finish."

Trump throws weight behind Jones for governor

In the governor's race, Trump has doubled-down with his support for Jones and will be hosting another "telerally" for the candidate on June 10. It will be the second event Trump has hosted for Jones during his campaign.

Both Jones and Jackson claim to be the "Trump candidate," despite only one having a formal endorsement, something Jones has regularly called out during his events and meet-and-greets across the state.

During an event in Cumming, Georgia last week (where Jackson now lives on his multi-million dollar estate), Jones said his opponent has been putting Trump on his flyers and in his campaign ads, and used comments from Kemp in an ad despite the governor not endorsing either candidate.

"So think about that for a second. When a guy comes out of the gates, and he comes out trying to mislead voters right out of the gates, you start looking at their track record," Jones said. "I'm telling you, I've said it before. Best way to see what somebody's going to do in the future is just look at what they've done in the past."

In response to the "telerally" and Trump's strong endorsement of Jones, Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms said it was "clear that Donald Trump wants to pick the next governor of Georgia."

"Burt Jones refuses to stand up for Georgians as they face higher costs and threats to their health care because of Donald Trump's reckless policies. He isn't running to serve Georgians, he's running to be Trump's lackey," Bottoms said in a statement. "As governor, I will always put Georgia's families and Georgia's economy first and I will never be afraid to stand up against the chaos coming from the White House when it hurts our state."

When are runoff races in Georgia?

The runoff election will be held on June 16 across the state. The Republican Senate race and the Republican gubernatorial race are just two of multiple statewide races on the ballot later this month.

For a full list of the runoff election candidates, read USA TODAY's reporting here.

Irene Wright covers midterm races in Georgia as the Atlanta Connect reporter with USA Today’s Deep South Connect team. Find her on X @IreneEWright or email her at [email protected].