Former football coach Derek Dooley on Monday entered Georgia’s contested 2026 Republican primary to unseat Democratic Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff.
Dooley, a political newcomer backed by Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, is vying for the Republican nomination in one of the most consequential races in the midterms. Dooley emphasized his experience coaching collegiate and professional football as well as his status as a political outsider in a two-minute campaign announcement video titled “Georgia First.” (RELATED: Trump State Dem’s War Chest Balloons As Republicans Vie To Topple Him)
“We need new leadership in Georgia,” Dooley said in the video, which also highlights his support for President Donald Trump’s agenda. “I’m going to work with President Trump, fight for you and always put Georgia first.”
“[The people] want somebody who’s going to mean what they say, say what they mean and then go deliver results,” he added, appearing to compare himself to Trump.
“Professional politicians like Jon Ossoff are the problem. Lawlessness, open season on the border, inflation everywhere, woke stuff — that’s what they represent,” Dooley stated further.
Republicans view Georgia as one of their party’s best pickup opportunities to expand its 53-seat majority during the midterms. Though Ossoff is seen as the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent running for reelection, his campaign is building a significant war chest — with roughly $15.5 million in the bank — and could benefit from a contested Republican primary.
Kemp reportedly chose to get behind Dooley after passing on running for the Senate himself in May, leading Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King to suspend his campaign. Dooley’s backers could be hoping to replicate the success of Republican Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville who was elected to the Senate in 2020 — with no experience of holding elected office — after nearly a decade helming Auburn University’s football program.
Dooley’s entry into the primary will set up a high-stakes crowded contest for the Republican nomination that also includes Georgia Republican Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins. His first ad contrasts his background of having never held political office before with others who spent time “climbing the D.C. political ladder.”
Collins entered the race on July 28 and has picked up several notable endorsements including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia.
Carter, a six-term House lawmaker who formerly led a health-focused panel on the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, has committed to spend more than $10 million of his own money to best the growing field of GOP candidates, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Trump has yet to make an endorsement in the state’s 2026 GOP Senate primary and his support could prove decisive. All three candidates have emphasized their support for the Trump administration’s policies and have pledged to help carry out the president’s agenda if elected to the upper chamber.
Georgia Republicans are hoping to avoid 2022’s failures during which the party nominated Herschel Walker, a Trump-endorsed former football star, to defeat Democratic Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock. The Democratic incumbent won by roughly three percentage points in a December run-off election despite the state’s Republican leanings and Kemp trouncing perennial Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams in the gubernatorial race.
Dooley’s father is the late University of Georgia football titan, Vince Dooley, who won a national championship and six SEC titles while coaching the state’s flagship university.
Dooley coached at the University of Tennessee from 2010 to 2012 and served as the Dallas Cowboys’ wide receivers coach from 2013 to 2017. He most recently worked under former University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban as an offensive analyst beginning in 2022.
Dooley did not vote in multiple presidential elections including the 2020 contest, the Washington Examiner first reported.
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