Mike Collins Quickly Fired Back at Kemp’s Dooley Defense
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported today Gov. Brian Kemp is fanning the flames of Georgia’s already “combustible” GOP U.S. Senate primary.
According to the report, Kemp doubled down on his support for failed and fired former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley by telling GOP donors that “MAGA warrior” Rep. Buddy Carter and MAGA extremist Rep. Mike Collins aren’t “going to work” as candidates because both have “a congressional voting record”– implying that the GOP’s harmful agenda will be a major liability in the general election.
Immediately after the reporting published, Mike Collins took to social media to fire back at Kemp, pointing out how Dooley “didn’t vote for Donald Trump in 2016 or 2020, never registered as a Republican, and hasn’t lived in Georgia for 25 years,” and stand by his voting record of supporting Trump in Congress.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Kemp makes case for Dooley in call to GOP donors
By Greg Bluestein | August 29, 2025
KEY POINTS:
- Kemp made the case for Dooley in a private donor call early Friday recorded by an attendee and confirmed by a Kemp aide, arguing that Ossoff will pummel more conventional candidates.
- “Another congressman from a heavily Republican district with a congressional voting record isn’t going to work,” he said in audio obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
- “I know and respect both Congressmen Carter and Collins. This is not an attack on them. It’s just the way that I feel. Ossoff will have hundreds of millions of dollars to define anyone’s voting record in the worst possible light.”
- In an interview with “Politically Georgia,” Dooley said his career, warts and all, sets him apart from Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, who have both mocked his stint as Tennessee’s head coach.