(The Center Square) – Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp endorsed U.S. Rep. Mike Collins in the U.S. Senate race, but polls show the Republican is still trailing incumbent Democrat Jon Ossoff.
Kemp campaigned for Collins’ opponent, Derek Dooley, son of legendary University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley and a former head coach at the University of Tennessee, in the primary runoff. Dooley lost to Collins in the June 16 contest for the Republican nomination.
Kemp said he and Collins share a commitment to Georgia in his endorsement, posted on Collins’ campaign social media.
“Mike has delivered results as a businessman and commonsense leader in Washington, and that’s what we need in our next senator,” Kemp said. “Jon Ossoff’s far-left agenda doesn’t represent Georgia values, and the future of our state and country demands a different direction. I’m proud to endorse Mike Collins for the U.S. Senate, and I know he’ll always put Georgia first.”
Ossoff said Kemp held off his endorsement for a reason.
“There’s a reason Brian Kemp worked so hard to defeat bigot Mike Collins in the GOP primary and waited to endorse the congressman until less than two months from Election Day, and it’s that Collins, who’s only a congressman because his daddy was a congressman, is surrounded at work and at home by neo-Nazis and white nationalists,” Ossoff said in a statement posted on his campaign website.
Mike Collins’ father, Mac Collins, served in Congress from 1993 to 2005.
Ossoff has accused Collins’ son-in-law of posting antisemitic views on social media. Collins told WTOC that his son-in-law is not involved in his campaign.
“I don’t believe or support those views and I have always condemned racism and antisemitism regardless of the source,” Collins told the television station.
A survey of 1,091 Georgians by the Trafalgar Group shows more than 49% would vote for Ossoff if the election were held now and nearly 43% would vote for Collins. Libertarian candidate Alan Buckley received 1.3% of positive responses, while 6.5% said they are undecided.
Collins received the majority of positive responses in just one age group, those 65 and older. Men also favored Collins, with 47.7% saying they would vote for him, 44.2% for Ossoff, 2% for Buckley, and 6.1% undecided.
The poll, which has a 2.9% margin of error, echoes other polls showing Ossoff in the lead, according to the polling aggregator 270towin.