Vince Dooley’s Son is Running For Senate

Former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley has joined the GOP primary to decide who will go on to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff.

Dooley announced his campaign with a video message Tuesday morning. In it, Dooley pays homage to his late father, the legendary University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley; praises President Donald Trump and attacks Ossoff as out of step with Georgians.

“Professional politicians like Jon Ossoff are the problem,” Dooley said. “Lawlessness, open season on the border, inflation everywhere, woke stuff, that’s what they represent. We need new leadership in Georgia. That’s why I’m running for Senate.”

The Kemp-Trump Connection

Dooley is reportedly running with the backing of Gov. Brian Kemp, a family friend who this spring announced he would not be seeking the seat. But Dooley joins a GOP primary that already includes two strong competitors, U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins.

Dooley, who has never held elected office before, pledged to be a political outsider in the vein of Trump and work to support the president’s agenda.

“Football is a lot like life,” Dooley said in a statement. “It doesn’t always go your way, but when you get knocked down, you learn how to keep fighting through adversity and working hard to win. That’s the American Spirit, too. But leadership matters! Under President Trump’s leadership, the American Spirit is on its way back. And that’s what I want for all Georgians.”

Both Collins and Carter can justifiably claim to be strong allies of the MAGA movement, and they have also striven to appeal to the president — but Trump has yet to make an endorsement.

Following Dooley’s announcement, Collins came out swinging with an ad casting Dooley as a new passenger on the Trump train.

“When shots rang out in Butler and Trump rose to his feet in defiant triumph, rallying all patriotic Americans, Derek Dooley was nowhere to be found,” the ad says, referencing last year’s assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. “Not a word, not a penny of support, didn’t lift a finger to help Donald Trump and the America first agenda win the fight. Derek Dooley has spent his life on the sidelines avoiding the fight to save America. Derek Dooley never fights, never wins, never Trump.”

Carter’s campaign struck a similar tone.

“Georgians know the difference between a fighter who stands with Trump versus a product of the same establishment machine that tried to stop him. Buddy Carter has stood with Trump from Day One, and will stand with him every day in the U.S. Senate,” a campaign spokesperson said in a statement.

Reporting from the Washington Examiner found that Dooley didn’t vote in several presidential elections, did not register as a Republican in multiple states and has not donated to the president’s campaigns.

Kemp pledged to work with Trump to find a candidate with a strong chance of success. A candidate endorsed by both Kemp and Trump would be seen as a likely frontrunner in the Republican primary, but the two have a complicated relationship.

Their once sweet partnership soured after Kemp declined to back Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and in 2022,Trump backed former Republican Sen. David Perdue as a primary challenger to Kemp, who easily swatted Perdue away.

Trump’s endorsement helped former UGA football star Herschel Walker earn the GOP nomination in a doomed 2022 challenge against Warnock. Walker fell flat in the general election, significantly underperforming Kemp, who cruised to a solid re-election.

Trump had also previously backed former Congressman Doug Collins in a primary challenge against former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed by Kemp and went on to lose to Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in the same 2021 runoff in which Ossoff narrowly won his seat.

‘Failed and Fired’

In a statement, Democratic Party of Georgia Chair Charlie Bailey poked fun at Dooley’s coaching record.

“This chaotic, crowded Republican primary just got messier with the entrance of failed and fired former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley, who has failed to live up to his family name throughout his career,” Bailey said. “We’ll see what’s harder for Dooley — answering for a Trump bill that strips health care for 750,000 Georgians, or remembering which SEC team to root for.”

Dooley was fired in 2012 after “posting Tennessee’s longest run of consecutive losing seasons in over a century,” according to the Associated Press. Dooley went on to work as a wide receivers coach for the Dallas Cowboys and as an assistant coach for the New York Giants.

As the only Democratic senator up for re-election in a state Trump won in 2024, Ossoff has a major target on his back.

Republicans are hoping that Georgia voters will show that his election was a fluke, while Democrats hope that a bruising primary and a backlash against the party in control of the White House will help earn Ossoff six more years.

Another thing that could help is the massive pile of cash Ossoff is sitting on – as of July, Ossoff’s campaign claimed nearly $15.5 million cash on hand, Federal Election Commission data shows.

Ossoff has raised nearly $42 million dollars this cycle – more than any other Senate candidate, according to FEC data. The second-place fundraiser, Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, raised $25.9 million.

With the party primaries set for May, Republicans still have time to catch up, and the eventual GOP candidate is also likely to see a big campaign haul.

For now, Carter reported a war chest of just over $4 million, according to paperwork filed in May, and as of July, Collins reported sitting on just over $1 million in campaign funds.

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