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There is a new Republican candidate leaping into probably the most essential Senate races within the 2026 midterm elections.
Former longtime soccer coach Derek Dooley highlighted his outsider credentials, took goal at Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, and showcased his help for President Donald Trump as he declared his candidacy on Monday.
“I’m working as a result of our state wants new management in Washington D.C., {and professional} politicians like Jon Ossoff are the issue,” Dooley mentioned in a press release and video as he launched his marketing campaign.
Dooley argued that “our state doesn’t have a voice within the U.S. Senate who displays Georgia values as a result of Ossoff is extra involved with defending his personal political future, opposing every little thing the Trump administration is working to perform, and repeatedly voting with the intense left.”
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And he pledged that if elected to the Senate, “I’ll work with President Trump to implement his agenda, help his Administration, and transfer our nation ahead.”
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The Senate race in Georgia is essential for Republicans aiming to broaden their present 53-47 Senate majority, as they view Ossoff, who’s working for re-election in a battleground state that Trump narrowly carried in final 12 months’s presidential contest, as essentially the most weak Democrat on the poll in subsequent 12 months’s midterms.
Republicans view Sen. Jon Ossoff as essentially the most weak Democrat working for re-election within the 2026 midterm elections. (AP)
Dooley, who’s the son of the late, legendary College of Georgia soccer coach Vince Dooley, was a university soccer participant who later served as a head coach at Louisiana Tech College and the College of Tennessee in addition to an assistant coach within the Nationwide Soccer League.
Whereas that is his first run for public workplace, Republican sources verify to Fox Information that he is anticipated to have the endorsement of Gov. Brian Kemp, Georgia’s well-liked two-term conservative Republican governor.
Dooley turns into the third main Republican candidate at the moment in Georgia’s Senate race.
Derek Dooley, a former longtime school {and professional} soccer coach, on Monday declared his candidacy for the Republican Senate nomination in Georgia. (Derek Dooley marketing campaign)
Two-term Rep. Mike Collins, a businessman who based a trucking firm who represents a big swath of city, suburban, and rural areas between Atlanta and Augusta, introduced his candidacy every week in the past. Collins, a Trump ally and supporter within the Home, showcased his help for the president in his marketing campaign launch.
And Rep. Buddy Carter, who for a decade has represented a district in coastal Georgia, launched a Senate marketing campaign within the spring. He’s additionally courting the president’s help.
Dooley appeared to take a jab at his two rivals for the nomination, saying “I’m not a part of the political institution, and I haven’t spent my life climbing the D.C. political ladder.”
He pledged that he is “working to place Georgia First and produce widespread sense to D.C. Georgians know organic males shouldn’t be enjoying in girls’s sports activities, hardworking individuals ought to preserve extra of their cash, and opening our borders makes us much less secure.”
Dooley is a longtime good friend of Kemp, and two of the governor’s high political advisers are serving to Dooley together with his Senate run.
The term-limited Kemp, who was closely recruited by nationwide Republicans to tackle Ossoff however who earlier this 12 months handed on launching his personal Senate marketing campaign in 2026, has made it clear in current days that he can be backing Dooley, sources acquainted confirmed to Fox Information.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is interviewed by Fox Information Digital at a Republican Governors Affiliation assembly in Washington D.C. on Feb. 20, 2025. (Fox Information – Paul Steinhauser)
In the meantime, sources in Trump’s political orbit and Republican sources in Georgia confirmed to Fox Information that there was an settlement between the president’s political operation and Kemp’s political group that they’d work collectively to discover a candidate that they may all unify behind to tackle Ossoff within the Senate race.
These sources additionally confirmed that Kemp and Trump – the final word kingmaker in GOP politics – met final month to debate the Senate race in Georgia.
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However when the governor floated the title of former College of Tennessee soccer coach Derek Dooley, a supply near the president’s political group mentioned “they had been instructed to face down, as a result of Trump’s group wasn’t prepared to maneuver ahead on anyone.”
Donald Trump shakes palms with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp after talking at a short lived reduction shelter as he visits areas impacted by Hurricane Helene, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, in Evans, Ga. (AP Picture/Evan Vucci)
And when Kemp and his group did transfer ahead with Dooley, it upset Trump’s advisers, who, in keeping with sources, had been “already fairly aggravated” that Kemp had handed earlier this 12 months on taking up Ossoff within the Senate race.
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“We had a deal to work collectively,” a high political supply within the Trump orbit instructed Fox Information lately. “Kemp went out on his personal – which has pissed off and pissed off Trump orbit.”
However a supply near the governor instructed Fox Information that it is factually not true that they had been instructed to face down on Dooley. And the supply added that Kemp meant what he mentioned that he needs to work with the president and his group and stays that manner.
