Trump-backed Collins wins Georgia Senate runoff, Jones loses governor race

Donald Trump got one clear win and one sharp setback in Georgia's Republican runoffs, a split result that measured the limits of his endorsement power in the state's volatile GOP. Rep. Mike Collins, backed late by Trump, won the Senate runoff and will face Sen. Jon Ossoff in November, while Trump-backed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones lost the governor's race to healthcare executive Rick Jackson.

Collins defeated former football coach Derek Dooley 55.5% to 44.5%, with AP calling the race after 99% of votes were counted. Dooley had Gov. Brian Kemp's backing, and the matchup offered Georgia Republicans another snapshot of the Trump-Kemp divide inside the party, but Collins still turned a late presidential endorsement into a nomination in a contest that now shapes the fight for Senate control.

The governor's runoff followed a different pattern. Jackson won 52.7% to 47.4% after putting more than $100 million of his own money into the campaign, and Jones entered the night with support from both Trump and Kemp. The result showed that money and local appeal could still outrun the party's biggest national name, even against a sitting lieutenant governor.

The June 16 runoff came only after the May 19 primary failed to produce a majority winner, sending Jones and Jackson back to voters for a second round. Ballotpedia reported that Jones led that first round with 38% to Jackson's 33.9%, but Jackson erased that gap by the time Republicans returned to the polls, and he now moves on to face Democratic former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in November. For Republicans eyeing the 2026 map, Georgia again looked less like a Trump monolith than a state where his endorsement can still matter, but only if the candidate and the terrain line up.