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Republicans in Georgia are locked in a bitter civil war revolving around the government shutdown and a critical primary race for a shot at unseating Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff.
Though currently held by Ossoff, the Georgia Senate seat is considered highly competitive, with Republicans having a real chance of flipping the seat red in 2026. Ossoff won the seat in 2021 in a razor-thin runoff election, beating out former Republican Sen. David Perdue by a margin of just 1.2 percent.
The race is considered highly critical for Republicans to protect their Senate majority. This, however, has not kept Republicans from jumping headlong into a bitter feud over the freshly ended government shutdown last week.
The controversy exploded when a political group aligned with Republican Gov. Brian Kemp released an attack ad criticizing Republican Reps. Mike Collins and Buddy Carter over the government shutdown and suggested “political outsider” former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley is needed to set things straight.
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The ad asked, “What do Mike Collins, Buddy Carter and Jon Ossof have in common? They all failed and shut down the government.”
“It’s what happens when you send career politicians to D.C.,” the narrator states.
The ad garnered quick criticism from sections of the Georgia Republican Party as a betrayal of President Donald Trump’s and the GOP’s national messaging on the shutdown being Democrats’ fault.
Kemp, who is in the midst of his second term as governor, has endorsed Dooley in the primary race.
Collins took to X, writing, “I’m not sure why the governor’s nonprofit 501(c)(4) would be using dark money to attack Republican members of the Georgia delegation by parroting the anti-Trump Democrat lie that ‘Republicans are to blame for the shutdown.’”
“It’s not only contrary to the message from Speaker Johnson, Leader Thune and President Trump, but it’s also disconnected from reality,” wrote Collins.
He went on: “Myself and Buddy Carter have done our job, and passed a clean, nonpartisan Continuing Resolution that funds the government.”
A few days later, Collins’ campaign released a Veterans’ Day ad attacking Dooley for saying in an interview that he “probably went 20 years” without voting for a presidential candidate, including missing five opportunities to vote for Trump. The ad criticized Dooley for not voting while Georgia military service members “find a way to vote absentee.”
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Dooley in turn accused Collins of “using Veterans Day to score political points,” which he said, “tells you everything you need to know about typical politicians.”
He said that “like millions of others, I proudly got off the sidelines and voted for President Trump in 2024” and “unlike many career politicians in DC, I’m focused on earning trust the right way: with honesty, humility, respect for all Georgians, and not accepting business as usual.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Carter spokesperson Harley Adsit called the ad a “desperate attempt” by Dooley “to save his failing campaign.”
Adsit accused Dooley of having “sold out to the radical left” and “pulling from Jon Ossoff’s playbook, attacking conservatives and turning his back on President Trump and Georgia’s hardworking families.”
“[Carter] proudly voted to keep the government open — it’s Dooley, Jon Ossoff, and the Democrats playing shutdown politics. Georgians deserve a MAGA warrior, not puppets trying to please the establishment elite,” she added.
Collins, meanwhile, told Fox News Digital: “Dooley is certainly an odd fellow.”
“He’s been gone from our state for 25 years and his first attempt at gainful employment upon return is to run for office, but what’s even odder is his campaign’s decision to attack congressional Republicans and run counter to President Trump’s messaging, and frankly the reality, that Democrats indeed caused the shutdown,” said Collins, adding, “I’m not sure if he and his team’s hatred for Trump is driving their strategy or if it’s just a genuine ignorance of what’s going on at the federal level, but it is certainly not a winning formula for next November.”
Meanwhile, in a statement to Fox News Digital, Dooley spokesman Connor Whitney framed him as the most viable candidate to flip the seat red by defeating Ossoff.
“Political outsider Derek Dooley has the clear momentum in this race. From fundraising to grassroots support to high profile endorsements, it is clear there is only one candidate that can take on Jon Ossoff next November,” said Whitney.
He noted that Dooley himself has been “solely focused on blasting Jon Ossoff’s failed record and giving the people of Georgia a Senator that actually represents their values,” adding, “that’s what he’ll continue to do when he’s the Republican nominee.”
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Whichever the outcome, the infighting spells trouble for Republicans.
A Georgia GOP strategist told Fox News Digital, “The party in general needs to unify and not have a messy primary.”
“Every day we have a primary fight is another day that Ossoff gets to vote the way that he did on the shutdown. It’s another day that he gets to stay out of the spotlight and we’re not hitting him,” the strategist said. “So, every day this goes on is a day that Jon Ossoff has won. And it just makes our jobs tougher come the summer when we finally have our nominee.”
The strategist said that Dooley is “kind of running out of time,” adding that he needed to have significantly out-fundraised Collins and Carter to establish himself as a “legit candidate.”
The strategist said that this exchange has demonstrated that Dooley “doesn’t understand” the dynamic of Trump’s Republican Party.
“In Trump’s Republican Party, you earn trust by fighting, not hiding on Election Day. You’ve got to show that you’re part of the movement,” the strategist said, adding, “So, Dooley is in a bad spot right now.”
Meanwhile, the strategist said, “Collins has a record, Collins has been elected before, Collins has stood with the president several times, he’s passed a significant bill through Congress.”
“So, what’s the argument for doing at that point? And if he doesn’t have the money to draw a message more than Collins can, then he doesn’t really stand much of a chance.”
However, Deborah Dooley, a Georgia Tea Party activist who is not related to the football coach-turned-politician, told Fox News Digital that “Derek Dooley is the only Republican with a credible path to victory in November” and that “Collins, by contrast, brings liabilities that Democrats will aggressively weaponize.”
She did not back down from the ad’s shutdown messaging, saying, “The House Members and Senators should have stayed in D.C. without pay until they reached a deal.”
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“Jon Ossoff will be extremely difficult to unseat, and this race hinges entirely on electability,” she went on. “Democrats are already accusing Rep. Collins of racism and the GOP Primary is not until next year. Republicans cannot afford to jeopardize another Senate seat.”
Observing all this from the outside, Georgia Democrats signaled they are bullish on their chances to hold the seat in November.
Devon Cruz, a spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia, told Fox News Digital that “Brian Kemp’s latest attempt to boost the failed and fired Derek Dooley further proves that Republicans are in for a long, nasty primary.”
“No matter who limps out of the primary, it’s been made very clear that the eventual nominee will be badly bruised and battered for a general election,” said Cruz.
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Kemp’s office responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment by referring to Fox News Digital to the governor’s political staff at Georgians First, Inc. The group did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Hardworking Georgians did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment by the time of publication.
