By JEFF AMY, Related Press
ATLANTA (AP) — Former College of Tennessee soccer coach Derek Dooley on Monday introduced his 2026 Republican bid for the U.S. Senate in Georgia in opposition to Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff.
The 57-year-old Dooley is backed by Gov. Brian Kemp and has been teasing a bid since June. He joins a GOP area that features U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, in addition to activist Reagan Field.
Kemp turned to Dooley after deciding to not run for the seat himself. Georgia Republicans want to topple Ossoff, thought of the Senate’s most susceptible Democratic incumbent searching for reelection subsequent 12 months.
“Skilled politicians like Jon Ossoff are the issue,” Dooley stated in a two-minute launch video “Lawlessness, open season on the border, inflation all over the place, woke stuff, that’s what they signify. We’d like new management in Georgia. That’s why I’m operating for Senate.”
Kemp and Trump met and stated they might attempt to agree on a most well-liked candidate. Anybody anointed by each can be stamped because the Republican front-runner. Kemp advised Collins and others on July 24 that he would assist Dooley, main Georgia Insurance coverage Commissioner John King to drop out of the race. However Trump isn’t able to endorse but and Dooley is shifting ahead with out Trump’s blessing, a sign the joint effort could also be faltering.
Dooley has by no means held elective workplace earlier than. He says he’ll run as a political outsider, a lane David Perdue traveled in Georgia to win election to the Senate in 2014. Dooley stated he would carry “good, quaint Georgia frequent sense,” and “work with President Trump, struggle for you and all the time put Georgia first.”
Dooley is the son of legendary College of Georgia coach Vince Dooley and was a lawyer earlier than he went into teaching. Derek Dooley was broadly seen as a failure throughout his three years as head coach at Tennessee, compiling a 15-21 file with the Volunteers earlier than he was fired in 2012. Since then, he has been an assistant coach with the Dallas Cowboys, the College of Missouri, the New York Giants and the College of Alabama.
As a youngster, Kemp was a frequent visitor within the Dooley house, and he roomed with Derek’s older brother, Daniel Dooley, on the College of Georgia. Kemp has the simplest Republican political group in Georgia, and Dooley has employed Kemp aides to run his race, together with political strategist Cody Corridor and fundraiser Chelsey Ruppersburg.
However plenty of Republicans endorsed Collins after he entered the sector final week, together with former U.S. Home Speaker Newt Gingrich. Additionally backing the congressman are state senators together with state Senate Majority Chief Jason Anavitarte. Even considered one of Kemp’s official flooring leaders within the state Home, Rep. Matthew Gambill, parted methods with the governor to endorse Collins.
Opponents have already lampooned Dooley for failing to publicly assist Trump prior to now. Somebody launched an nameless College of Tennessee-themed web site referred to as “Dooley’s Volunteers” that criticizes Dooley for a scarcity of conservative credentials, interspersed with quotes from sports activities reporters panning Dooley’s teaching tenure.
It’s the newest excessive affect transfer to again a political novice for Kemp, who tapped Kelly Loeffler as a U.S. senator earlier than she misplaced to Democrat Raphael Warnock in a 2021 runoff. Her marketing campaign was tormented by battle between Kemp and Trump, who most well-liked one other candidate. Losses by Perdue and Loeffler to Ossoff and Warnock, respectively, handed management of the U.S. Senate to Democrats.
Then in 2022, Trump anointed Georgia soccer legend Herschel Walker because the Republican nominee. Walker’s candidacy proved flawed and Kemp solely swung in to assist in the runoff, which Warnock received.
Their effort to collectively display 2026 candidates produced some outcomes — U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene declined a Senate run after strain from different Republicans.
Dooley can be removed from the primary soccer coach to run for workplace. His late father was ceaselessly mentioned as a doable candidate and his mom, Barbara Dooley, misplaced a Republican major for Congress in 2002. Former Auburn College soccer coach Tommy Tuberville was elected to the Senate in 2020 from Alabama and is now operating for governor. College of Nebraska teaching legend Tom Osborne served three phrases within the U.S. Home.
Dooley walked on on the College of Virginia and earned a scholarship as a large receiver. He earned a regulation diploma from the College of Georgia and briefly practiced regulation in Atlanta earlier than working his manner up the faculty teaching ladder, turning into head coach for 3 years at Louisiana Tech earlier than Tennessee.
Initially Revealed: