From Bad to Worse: Georgia GOP U.S. Senate Primary Plagued by 'Infighting,' Mockery, and Proxy Wars
August 1, 2025
This week, Georgia’s GOP U.S. Senate primary was in the news for all of the wrong reasons.
The recurring topic of the week was the nasty infighting that is set to begin as the GOP primary field continues to grow:
On WABE’s Political Breakfast, strategist Tharon Johnson lays out how the “infighting” is already heating up:
- “This is about to be a hot mess on the Republican side…”
- “[…] There’s a lot of infighting. The White House is not happy with the governor’s selection to be all in with Derek Dooley.”
- “Mike Collins entering this race and Governor Kemp being out there is overshadowed by a long list of MAGA grievances and a chaotic dynamic to navigate a Republican primary [where] you could literally have a governor and a sitting president on opposite sides.”
FOX 5 Atlanta:
- “Here comes the infighting, Melita, as Democrats are sitting back with Senator Jon Ossoff.”
- “A college level psychology course could have a lot of fun looking at the daddy issues surrounding this US Senate race.”
- “You’ve got Derek Dooley, who was a mediocre football coach going after a race, an office that his father did not seek […] You’ve got Mike Collins who followed his father, the late Congressman Collins. […] So there’s daddy stuff all up and down the ballot.”
On Monday, MAGA extremist Rep. Mike Collins officially launched his campaign for Senate and quickly became a laughing stock for misspelling “Georgia” as “Georiga”:
WJCL Savannah:
- “[Mike Collins’] campaign did not get off to the best start — as he made a spelling mistake in an ad posted to social media. He misspelled the word ‘Georgia’ at the end of a video.”
With Collins in the race, and Gov. Brian Kemp still firmly behind failed and fired former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley, new reporting throughout the week highlighted the “dumpster fire” proxy war unfolding between Gov. Kemp and President Trump:
