With just a month left until Georgia holds its three-way Republican Senate primary, the election has erupted into a full-on “triangular firing squad,” says Punchbowl News, with all three candidates doing their best to knock their opponents out of the race. They’re struggling to replace incumbent Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA), who not only leads in polls against all three GOP candidates, but has far outraised his challengers, boasting a massive $31 million war chest.
So far, President Donald Trump hasn’t endorsed any of the candidates, but the two current leaders — Representatives Mike Collins (R-GA) and Buddy Carter (R-GA) — are campaigning under the MAGA banner. They’re up against football coach Derek Dooley, an ally of Governor Brian Kemp, who has a notoriously strained relationship with Trump. If none of the candidates reach a 50 percent threshold in the primary, it will force a costly runoff election, which Republicans fear would reduce their bankroll for fighting against Ossoff in the midterm general election. Hoping to avoid this, the three GOP prospects are doing their best to jab each other out of the race.
“Look, if Mike Collins is our candidate, we lose. If Derek Dooley is our candidate, we lose,” Carter told Punchbowl News, failing to mention that he and Collins are polling against Ossoff within one percent of each other, with Dooley close behind.
“Our candidate can’t be sitting there having to defend either a long voting record or a House Ethics charge or a divisive social media,” said Dooley, taking a stab at his opponents’ MAGA identities. “You got to have a candidate who not only can energize and mobilize the Republican voters — the Trump voters — but connects with voters that don’t always vote Republican.”
Dooley has raised his concerns about a MAGA candidate due to a widespread belief that Ossoff — who is viewed as a strongly centrist politician who appeals to the working class — can only be defeated by someone who isn’t so far to the right. Currently Collins, the most conservative candidate, is leading in primary polls. This has some Republicans worried.
“If the most conservative person comes out of the primary, there’s the worst matchup in the general, particularly in a year where we have headwinds,” said Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), referring to the headwinds driven by Trump’s increasingly unpopular presidency. “If you cut that image, then you’re necessarily going to alienate unaffiliated soccer moms and whoever else may be trending away from us anyway.”