Fox News: “Whichever the outcome, the infighting spells trouble for Republicans.”
New reporting from Fox News highlights how the already “combustible” GOP U.S. Senate primary is getting even messier as Georgia Republicans find themselves locked in a “bitter civil war” that “spells trouble” for the primary.
The report details how “infighting” between MAGA extremist Rep. Mike Collins, “MAGA warrior” Rep. Buddy Carter, and failed and fired former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley “exploded” after the release of Governor Kemp’s latest Dooley-boosting ad which drew criticism from in-state and national Republicans for promoting even more chaos.
Fox News: GOP civil war erupts over shutdown politics in critical Senate race: ‘Not a winning formula’
By Peter Pinedo | November 19th, 2025
KEY EXCERPTS:
- Republicans in Georgia are locked in a bitter civil war revolving around the government shutdown and a critical primary race […]
- The race is considered highly critical for Republicans to protect their Senate majority.
- This, however, has not kept Republicans from jumping headlong into a bitter feud over the freshly ended government shutdown last week.
- The controversy exploded when a political group aligned with Republican Gov. Brian Kemp released an attack ad criticizing Republican Reps. Mike Collins and Buddy Carter over the government shutdown and suggested “political outsider” Derek Dooley, a former Tennessee football coach, is needed to set things straight […]
- The ad garnered quick criticism from sections of the Georgia Republican Party as a betrayal of President Donald Trump’s and the GOP’s national messaging […].
- Collins took to X, writing, “I’m not sure why the governor’s nonprofit 501(c)(4) would be using dark money to attack Republican members of the Georgia delegation by parroting the anti-Trump Democrat lie that ‘Republicans are to blame for the shutdown.’”
- He went on: “Myself and Buddy Carter have done our job, and passed a clean, nonpartisan Continuing Resolution that funds the government.”
- A few days later, Collins’ campaign released a Veterans Day ad attacking Dooley for saying in an interview that he “probably went 20 years” without voting for a presidential candidate, including missing five opportunities to vote for Trump.
- The ad criticized Dooley for not voting while Georgia military service members “find a way to vote absentee.”
- Dooley in turn accused Collins of “using Veterans Day to score political points,” which he said, “tells you everything you need to know about typical politicians” […]
- In a statement to Fox News Digital, Carter spokesperson Harley Adsit called the ad a “desperate attempt” by Dooley “to save his failing campaign.”
- Adsit accused Dooley of having “sold out to the radical left” and “pulling from Jon Ossoff’s playbook, attacking conservatives and turning his back on President Trump and Georgia’s hardworking families.”
- Collins, meanwhile, told Fox News Digital: “Dooley is certainly an odd fellow.”
- “He’s been gone from our state for 25 years and his first attempt at gainful employment upon return is to run for office, but what’s even odder is his campaign’s decision to attack congressional Republicans and run counter to President Trump’s messaging, and frankly the reality, that Democrats indeed caused the shutdown,” said Collins, adding, “I’m not sure if he and his team’s hatred for Trump is driving their strategy or if it’s just a genuine ignorance of what’s going on at the federal level, but it is certainly not a winning formula for next November.”
- Whichever the outcome, the infighting spells trouble for Republicans.
- A Georgia GOP strategist told Fox News Digital, “The party in general needs to unify and not have a messy primary.”
- […] “So, every day this goes on is a day that Jon Ossoff has won. And it just makes our jobs tougher come the summer when we finally have our nominee.”
- The strategist said Dooley is “kind of running out of time,” adding that he needed to have significantly out-fundraised Collins and Carter to establish himself as a “legit candidate.”
- The strategist said this exchange has demonstrated that Dooley “doesn’t understand” the dynamic of Trump’s Republican Party.
- “In Trump’s Republican Party, you earn trust by fighting, not hiding on Election Day. You’ve got to show that you’re part of the movement,” the strategist said, adding, “So, Dooley is in a bad spot right now” […]
- Observing all this from the outside, Georgia Democrats signaled they are bullish on their chances to hold the seat in November.
- Devon Cruz, a spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia, told Fox News Digital, “Brian Kemp’s latest attempt to boost the failed and fired Derek Dooley further proves that Republicans are in for a long, nasty primary.”
- “No matter who limps out of the primary, it’s been made very clear that the eventual nominee will be badly bruised and battered for a general election,” said Cruz.
- Kemp’s office responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment by referring to Fox News Digital to the governor’s political staff at Georgians First, Inc. The group did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
- Hardworking Georgians did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment by the time of publication.