Five things to know about the upcoming Senate election in Georgia

This time next week, the GOP field to face off against Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff should be at least narrowed down.

Ossoff is up for re-election in November, and Republican voters will have their say Tuesday on who will compete against him. Five men are on the ballot to face Ossoff in the fall, and three lead the pack: Congressmen Mike Collins and Buddy Carter and former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley.

Here’s what to know as the big day approaches:

Collins appears to be in the lead, but a runoff is likely

At a recent campaign stop at a Toccoa coffee shop, Collins seemed to already be running a general election race, focusing his attacks on Ossoff much more than his GOP opponents.

Polling data consistently puts Collins ahead of his Republican opponents, but not far enough to avoid sending votes back to the polls next month. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, the top two will compete in a runoff June 16.

An Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll conducted in April found Collins with 22% of the vote, ahead of Carter at nearly 13% and Dooley at 11%, which leaves about 54% of voters undecided.

That’s more undecided voters than another AJC poll conducted in October, where only 38% of respondents said they didn’t know who they’d vote for.

David Fry of Stephens County, who came out to see Collins in Toccoa, said he liked what he heard but hadn’t decided on a candidate yet. He said he’d probably come to a decision on the way to the polling place.

“I’m gonna do some reading on Mike Collins and study about what he’s for,” Fry said. “Then I’m going to talk it over with my wife and we’re gonna cast our votes.”

Democrats are hoping for a messy runoff

Meanwhile, Ossoff’s allies welcome another month of campaigning on the Republican side. Their hope is that the eventual winner will emerge with a damaged reputation after butting heads with a GOP opponent.

“It is going to showcase another month of these clowns just beating the fool out of each other,” said Democratic Party of Georgia Chairman Charlie Bailey in a press call with reporters Monday.

Bailey said the candidates will need to impress GOP primary voters by tying themselves to President Donald Trump in a way that could turn off more moderate general election voters.

All three GOP candidates have sought Trump’s endorsement, but the president has yet to weigh in.

“While Senator Ossoff is working to represent the people of Georgia every day, the Republicans continue to fight amongst themselves, and take really unpopular positions while doing it, and that’s really hard for them to come back from,” Bailey said.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Collins indicated he doesn’t plan to change his message if he makes the general.

“I think my message is going to be consistent, it should be consistent, you should be who you are, period,” he said. “If you’re not a perfect fit, if you’re not the right fit, people let you know that, but this is who I am and what I have to offer, and they see that, they see somebody that just wants to go up there and get something done.”

Who’s in what lane?

Both Collins and Carter have sought to position themselves as strong allies of Trump and the MAGA movement.

As his lead in the polls has remained steady, Collins has also sought to paint himself as someone willing to cross the aisle to get Democratic votes.

He gave the example of the Laken Riley Act, which requires the detention of  immigrants without permanent legal status who are charged but not convicted of certain crimes. The act passed the Senate with the help of 12 Democrats, including Ossoff and Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock.

Carter has tried to get the president’s attention in a number of ways, including introducing a resolution calling on him to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and a bill authorizing Trump to acquire Greenland and renaming it to Red, White and Blueland.

When asked, Dooley says he would welcome Trump’s endorsement, but the former coach took a different route to the nomination.

Dooley got involved with the blessing of Republican Gov. Brian Kemp after Kemp declined to run. He continues to make campaign appearances with Kemp and his family across the state.

Though Trump and Kemp were once allies, the two have since largely parted ways politically. They had a falling out after Kemp refused to back Trump’s efforts to change Georgia’s 2020 election results.

Dooley supporters say his connection with Kemp and lack of a congressional voting record and ties to Trump make him the ideal candidate to face Ossoff in the fall.

The bigger picture

Right now, Republicans have a 53-45 majority in the U.S Senate, but 33 of the 100 seats will be up on ballots across the country in November.

Ossoff’s seat is the only one held by a Democrat in a state won by Trump in 2024. That means if Democrats want a chance to gain control of the Senate, they’ll need to defend Georgia and other states with vulnerable Democratic incumbents while picking up at least four new seats.

That’s an uphill battle for the party, but dissatisfaction with Trump’s foreign and domestic policy and the state of the economy has some Democrats feeling more optimistic about their chances.

For Republicans, defeating Ossoff in Georgia would represent good insurance against Democrats peeling off seats in other states, and with so much at stake for either side, the race is likely to wind up as one of the most expensive in the country.

The Senate Leadership Fund, a Super PAC that supports Republicans in the Senate, has announced plans to spend $44 million to unseat Ossoff.

Ossoff has raised the most money of any Senate candidate in 2026, according to the Federal Election Commission.

After raising just over $14 million from the start of the year through the end of March, Ossoff’s total funds topped $31 million as of his most recent filing.

Collins enters the primary as the top GOP fundraiser in the race, bringing in just over $1 million in the first quarter of 2026.

Dooley’s filing reported around $664,000 raised and Carter’s about $470,000.

How to vote

Early voting is open now and runs through Friday.

Tuesday is Election Day. If you vote early, you can go to any polling place in your county, but if you want to vote on Election Day, you’ll have to go to your assigned polling precinct, which you can find on the Georgia Secretary of State’s website.

For the primary, you can choose a ballot from one party, Democrats or Republicans, or you can choose a nonpartisan ballot, which will only have nonpartisan races like judges on it.

Whichever ballot you choose, you can vote for candidates from either party in November.

You’ll need to bring ID to vote.