WABE's Political Breakfast: U.S. Senate GOP Primary 'Is About to be a Hot Mess'

“Mike Collins entering this race […] is overshadowed by a long list of MAGA grievances and a chaotic dynamic…”

Mike Collins, a MAGA extremist who has faced criticism for his “racist, antisemitic or xenophobic” comments, officially entered the Georgia U.S. Senate race this week — but his campaign launch, marked by a video that “spelled the name of the state wrong,” has been overshadowed by Georgia Republicans’ increasingly messy and chaotic primary.

Collins’ entry follows intensifying “infighting” and tension among Georgia Republicans, including damning reporting from Fox News exposing a growing rift between Donald Trump and Brian Kemp as the two Republicans refuse to get on the same page about a “consensus candidate” and let the “proxy fight for the future of the Georgia GOP” continue in the Georgia Senate race. Kemp’s endorsement of failed and fired former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley is viewed within the GOP as a “slap in the face.”

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…
• Mike Collins is a MAGA extremist. This is a man who has faced criticism in the past about racist, anti-semitic, and xenophobic comments.
• This is about to be a huge fight between a Gov. Kemp backed candidate Derek Dooley, you got, Buddy Carter, [and] Mike Collins. And we still don’t know where President Trump is going to be in this race. 
• […] There’s a lot of infighting. The White House is not happy with the governor’s selection to be all in with Derek Dooley. 
• A poll […] showed that 52% of Georgians opposed the Trump budget law that ripped away health care for about 750,000 plus Georgians […] Buddy Carter and Mike Collins voted for this budget. 
• 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.