On the Republican side, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and the health care executive Rick Jackson advanced to a June 16 runoff after neither candidate cleared the majority threshold required under Georgia law. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who became known nationally for resisting President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia, was behind in third and did not advance.
The Republican Senate primary also headed to a runoff, extending a contest that Republicans had once viewed as their clearest pickup opportunities of the 2026 midterms. Rep. Mike Collins, a trucking company executive and close Trump ally, will face former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley, who was recruited into the race by Gov. Kemp. Rep. Buddy Carter, who described himself as a “MAGA warrior,” finished in third.
Trump has not endorsed a candidate in Georgia’s Senate race, despite aggressively shaping Republican primaries elsewhere. All three leading candidates sought to present themselves as aligned with the President and his agenda. Dooley, however, pitched himself as a political outsider and leaned heavily on his endorsement from Kemp, whose relationship with Trump has remained strained since the governor rejected efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential results.
