ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff launched sharp attacks against his possible November opponents during a Sunday rally, describing Representative Mike Collins and former football coach Derek Dooley as inexperienced followers of President Donald Trump.
“It doesn’t matter which one wins,” Ossoff declared to an enthusiastic audience gathered at The Tabernacle, a concert hall in downtown Atlanta. “They’re both Trump puppets.”
Ossoff appeared alongside Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor, in what campaign advisers called the beginning of numerous coordinated events designed to present them as a unified ticket. The pair spoke from a podium featuring a sign reading “United for Georgia.”
The display of Democratic unity stood in stark contrast to ongoing Republican primary battles to select party nominees for both Senate and governor races. Just hours before the Democratic event, Collins and Dooley faced off in a heated debate as they prepare for their June 16 runoff election.
During their debate, both Republican candidates demonstrated unwavering loyalty to the president while barely acknowledging Ossoff, whom they characterize as too progressive for a state Trump won in two of his three electoral campaigns.
The simultaneous events, occurring across Atlanta, underscore the organizational advantage Ossoff and Georgia Democrats possess heading into midterm elections that could significantly impact Trump’s final presidential term and influence this pivotal swing state’s leadership.
Similar to Ossoff’s situation, Bottoms is waiting to learn her Republican challenger after decisively defeating Democratic primary opponents on May 19. She used similar rhetoric to characterize her potential rivals, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and billionaire businessman Rick Jackson.
“They don’t see Trump’s reckless policies as a problem, they see them as a playbook,” she declared, highlighting rising costs for fuel and food. “We already know we’re running against Trump’s do-boys.”
Ossoff represents the sole Senate Democrat seeking reelection in a Trump-won state from 2024, making his seat retention crucial for Democratic hopes of gaining chamber control. Bottoms aims to become Georgia’s first Democratic governor elected since 1998.
In the gubernatorial contest, Trump has backed Jones, who supported the president’s unsuccessful attempt to reverse his 2020 loss to Joe Biden through unfounded fraud allegations. The president remains neutral in the Collins-Dooley race.
Given Trump’s dominant influence within the Republican Party, Collins and Dooley displayed minimal policy disagreements while each argued they would better defeat Ossoff and advance the president’s priorities.
Dooley emphasized his newcomer status and, despite Republican control of Congress and the presidency, criticized Collins as representing ineffective governance.
“Congress is out of control,” he stated. “There’s too much careerism, corruption, nothing’s getting done, Congress is not working for the people the way it should.”
While positioning himself as an outsider, Dooley highlighted endorsements from two-term Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and referenced his family heritage. His late father, Vince, served as University of Georgia’s renowned football coach and athletics director.
“I grew up in a football family in Athens,” explained Dooley, who practiced law briefly before pursuing his father’s coaching career in collegiate and professional football.
Dooley’s most aggressive attacks targeted an ethics investigation examining whether Collins misused public funds by employing his former chief of staff’s girlfriend for work she allegedly never performed.
Collins dismissed the matter as merely a “complaint” without substance, calling it a “nothing burger.”
However, the Office of Congressional Conduct has forwarded the case to the House Ethics Committee following preliminary review, with Dooley noting Republican members supported continuing the investigation.
Collins, whose father also served in Congress, rejected Dooley’s Capitol Hill criticism. He described himself as “a conservative workhorse” and attributed legislative delays specifically to “a broken Senate” — where Ossoff holds office. He promoted his role in creating the Laken Riley Act, 2025 immigration legislation requiring detention without bail for immigrants charged with specific offenses.
Both candidates endorsed Trump’s trade policies and military action in Iran. While Collins previously supported legislation essentially prohibiting abortion nationally, Dooley believes individual states should decide abortion policy.
Ossoff condemned Trump as “a failed president and a national disgrace.” He portrayed Trump as exemplifying political corruption, citing his family’s cryptocurrency and international real estate profits, while grouping Collins and Dooley with the president.
“They’re both corrupt political insiders, and they’re both pro-war, pro-tariff, and pro-cutting your health care,” he charged.
Ossoff referenced the same ethics investigation Dooley mentioned regarding Collins. He also alleged Dooley benefited from his brother’s government business relationships.
“The coach’s family got tens of millions of your tax dollars courtesy of Gov. Kemp, and then poured cash into the governor’s pack to prop up the coach’s campaign,” Ossoff claimed.
His comments referred to Daniel Dooley’s role founding CENTEGIX, which produces and installs school safety equipment, including “panic buttons” connecting directly to law enforcement. Under Kemp’s administration, the state provided grants for local security improvements and mandated direct police communication systems in Georgia classrooms.
CENTEGIX has obtained contracts throughout Georgia’s school districts, with Daniel Dooley contributing over $150,000 to Kemp’s federal PAC supporting his brother’s Senate bid. However, Dooley and Kemp representatives emphasize CENTEGIX operates in 47 additional states and faces competition from other companies for Georgia school contracts.
Connor Whitney, a Dooley campaign spokesman, said Ossoff “is already lying about Derek Dooley” because he “knows Dooley is the candidate who will send him to the bench this fall.”
