Derek Dooley, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate seat in Georgia, seems as if he is just trying to play spoiler candidate to force a costly run-off election in one of the most must-win Senate seats this cycle.
Dooley, who is most well known for his tenure as the Tennessee head football coach, is currently polling in a distant third place against Mike Collins and Buddy Carter. He sits six points behind Carter and a massive 20 points behind Collins, who touts endorsements from Turning Point Action and the mother of Laken Riley.
Dooley has tried to make a name for himself by appealing to the disgruntled voters of Georgia. He’s put himself in opposition of Republicans, and seemingly President Trump, by claiming that the GOP bears responsibility for the lengthy government shutdowns that have occurred during Trump’s second term.
“I want you to just think about all these issues that continue to confront us,” Dooley said in an interview on Mar. 9. “Whether it was–remember when we shut the government down over healthcare, we’ve got massive problems in healthcare, we’ve got all the affordability issues, we have college sports issues now. There’s a multitude of things that Congress could be doing. “
“They’ve passed one significant piece of legislation since the President took office, and to me it makes no sense,” Dooley continued.
His messaging has undermined the reality of the shutdowns: Democrats have been willing to hold the government completely hostage to stifle the vitally important agenda of Donald Trump. Still, groups affiliated with Gov. Brian Kemp, who has endorsed Dooley, are pushing the narrative that Republicans are somehow to blame for the actions of the radical Left.
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Despite the roadblocks thrown up by Democrats, Republicans have had a bevy of accomplishments. The One Big Beautiful Bill brought about sweeping tax reforms and funding for Trump’s immigration agenda. Rep. Mike Collins himself got the Laken Riley Act through Congress, bringing about a major crackdown on criminal aliens, and more than 70 of Trump’s executive orders have been codified by law.
And for all of his big talk, Dooley lacks the record of a conservative stalwart. By his own admission, he only broke a nearly 20-year streak of not voting in order to cast a ballot for Kemp in 2022 and didn’t cast a vote for Trump until 2024.
Republicans are already facing one run-off election that will burn cash that could be used to win seats across the country. Do we really need another?
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