Democrat Jon Ossoff skates as Georgia GOP Senate primary drags on to runoff election

The Georgia Republican Senate primary will be settled in a runoff next month after no candidate secured a majority of the vote Tuesday, leaving incumbent Sen.Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) without a formal challenger for a bit longer.

Rep.Mike Collins (R-Ga.), who led the way with about 41% of the vote, and former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley, who garnered 30% support, were the top two vote-getters and will fight it out for the nomination in the June 16 runoff.Rep.

Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) was the odd man out, finishing in third place with 25% of the vote, with about three-fourths of the ballots counted Tuesday night.Either Collins or Dooley will take on incumbent Ossoff (D-Ga.) in November. Ossoff is viewed as one of the most vulnerable Democratic senators by Republicans, who hope to expand their 53-47 Senate majority in the fall midterms.Collins pitched himself as the best candidate to turn Georgia red in November because of his proven track record.

“You don’t beat Jon Ossoff with no record.You win by having a record of results.

I’ve shown that you can go to Washington and put Georgians first,” Collins said at his victory party.Dooley, who coached for 30 years, celebrated his outsider status at his election party.“They counted us out.They said that Mike Collins had this race in the bag.

… We proved them dead wrong tonight, and we got all the momentum,” Dooley cheered.“Beating Jon Ossoff is not going to be done by another DC politician,” Dooley saidPre-primary polling showed Ossoff running narrowly ahead of all three Republican contenders.President Trump made no endorsement in the contest, and term-limited Republican Gov.Brian Kemp — who rebuffed overtures to run against Ossoff himself — threw his support behind Dooley, a family friend and the son of legendary University of Georgia coach Vince Dooley.“My goal here is to win our Senate seat back,” Kemp said at a Dooley campaign event last week.

“We need a political outsider...