Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., leaves the House Republicans' caucus meeting at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington on Tuesday, May 23, 2023. (Bill Clark)
Collins was an early backer of the president, supporting him as Trump first ran for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2016 cycle.
In the 2024 presidential campaign, when Trump won back the White House, Collins traveled on behalf of Trump to the crucial early-voting primary and caucus states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.
He also appeared at multiple Trump rallies during the 2024 cycle and opened three Trump campaign offices in Georgia.
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And Collins, not facing a difficult re-election in his solidly red House seat, campaigned in ten congressional districts across the country to help elect Trump-aligned candidates as the GOP defended its razor-thin majority in the chamber.
Collins at the beginning of this year reintroduced the Laken Riley Act, which mandates that undocumented immigrants charged with burglary or theft be detained. It's named after a Georgia nursing student killed by a man who had illegally entered the U.S. The case grabbed national attention.
The bill, which quickly passed the Republican-controlled House and Senate, became the first legislation signed into law by Trump as he started his second tour of duty in the White House.
A Republican source said that Collins has a "great relationship" with the president and his political team.
And a Georgia-based Republican consultant told Fox News that "the lane that Mike is going to run in is the America First fighter who's been with President Trump."
Trump, who is the ultimate kingmaker in GOP politics and whose endorsements in Republican primaries are extremely powerful, has yet to weigh in on whom he may back in Georgia's burgeoning Senate race.
National Republicans were hoping to recruit popular two-term GOP Gov. Brian Kemp to take on Ossoff. But Kemp, who is term-limited, announced earlier this year that he would pass on a 2026 Senate run.
Republican Rep. Buddy Carter, who for a decade has represented a district in coastal Georgia, launched a Senate campaign in the spring. Carter is also courting a Trump endorsement in the GOP primary.
Donald Trump shakes hands with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp after speaking at a temporary relief shelter as he visits areas impacted by Hurricane Helene, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, in Evans, Georgia. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
And when Kemp and his team did move forward with Dooley, it upset Trump’s advisers, who, according to sources, were "already pretty annoyed" that Kemp had passed earlier this year on taking on Ossoff in the Senate race.
"We had a deal to work together," a top political source in the Trump orbit told Fox News on Friday. "Kemp went out on his own – which has frustrated and pissed off Trump orbit."
But a source close to the governor told Fox News that it's factually not true that they were told to stand down on Dooley.
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And the source added that Kemp meant what he said that he wants to work with the president and his team and remains that way.
A campaign announcement by Dooley could come as early as this week.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-ally-mike-collins-launch-key-battleground-state-bid-flip-democrat-held-senate-seat