Mike Collins argues he can unite Georgia GOP in challenge to Democratic US Sen. Jon Ossoff

JACKSON, Ga. (AP) — Second-term Georgia Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins is seeking to solidify support as he seeks the GOP nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in 2026.

Collins, who’d declared his intent to run in July, officially launched his candidacy Tuesday in his hometown of Jackson and then spoke Wednesday at a Georgia Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Columbus. He’s trying to appeal to both President Donald Trump’s base and more traditional business conservatives.

The owner of a trucking company and son of a former congressman, Collins has won endorsements from dozens of Republican state lawmakers, despite GOP Gov. Brian Kemp backing newcomer Derek Dooley. Fellow GOP congressman Buddy Carter also is in the race.

Collins argues he can unite the party.

“They know I’m MAGA — everybody knows that,” Collins said. “But they also know that I can talk to the more moderate Republicans that we have out there.”

Ossoff is the only Democratic incumbent seeking reelection in 2026 from a state that Trump won, making him a top GOP target. Republicans had hoped that Kemp himself would run, but he declined. Kemp and Trump had discussed seeking a mutual candidate to challenge Ossoff, but Trump hasn’t chosen yet. Collins and his backers say they believe Trump will ultimately back Collins.

“I think it’s a matter of time,” said Bruce LeVell, who headed Trump’s national diversity coalition in 2016 and spoke at Collins’ Tuesday rally.

Carter and Dooley are also seeking Trump’s nod. Carter, who calls himself a “MAGA” warrior, touted his support for Trump’s budget law Wednesday and called for looser environmental and regulatory permitting. He said he hopes to win Trump’s endorsement “sooner rather than later” and expressed confidence that his fundraising would let him keep pace with other Republicans.

“I am obviously the conservative candidate,” Carter said. “I’m the one who has been a mayor. I’ve been in the state legislature. I’ve been in Congress for 10 years. And my voting record is clear, I’ve been voting with Donald Trump 98% of the time.” Carter was mayor of the city of Pooler outside Savannah.

Dooley, a former University of Tennessee football coach and son of the University of Georgia’s legendary football head coach Vince Dooley, attended Wednesday’s luncheon but declined interview requests. He’s been setting up a run as a political outsider.

Ossoff made his own case to the business community. On Wednesday, in a question-and-answer session before the chamber, he never mentioned Trump by name. He spoke to less partisan issues like supporting veterans’ health care and seeking money for Georgia’s military bases.

But he did make the case that the Trump administration was hurting the United States’ standing in the world by scaling back on diplomacy and international aid while cutting U.S. research and incentives for new technologies and roiling trade with new tariffs.

“Frankly we are engaged in tremendous self-harm right now in this competition with China,” Ossoff said.

The national party has been attacking Ossoff, including a current round of mailers and ads arguing he backed higher taxes because he opposed Trump’s budget bill.

Collins is touting a list of supporters from each of Georgia’s 159 counties, including state lawmakers and county leaders, building the idea that the party is choosing him even if Kemp isn’t behind him. While it’s common for campaigns to release such lists, Collins released his at a very early stage. He also has at least one supporter from each county when the state Republican Party doesn’t have an organized committee in each county.

“I do think that Mike checks all the boxes,” said Ben Tarbutton III, a longtime Georgia business leader who is serving as Collins’ finance chairman. Tarbutton was chairman of the Georgia Chamber when it endorsed Kemp’s reelection bid in 2022.

Collins also had some well-wishers present Tuesday who haven’t endorsed him, including Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, another Jackson resident whom Trump has endorsed in his Republican bid for governor. Two top GOP contenders for lieutenant governor also attended.

Both Collins and Carter have kind words for Kemp. But many Republicans are mystified by Kemp’s support for Dooley.

“I don’t know what the hell Brian Kemp is doing,” LeVell said. “I have no idea.”