ATLANTA — Derek Dooley, the football coach and son of legendary Bulldogs leader Vince Dooley, has joined the campaign to unseat Democrat Jon Ossoff from his U.S. Senate seat in Georgia next year.
“Lawlessness, open season on the border, inflation everywhere, woke stuff. That’s what they represent,” Dooley, who is running as a Republican, said on YouTube Monday as he announced his candidacy.
To get to Ossoff, he will have to go through two Georgia congressmen who are already vying for the GOP nomination. U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter from St. Simons was the first to enter the race in the spring after Gov. Brian Kemp, who had been expected to run, said he was out. State Insurance Commissioner John King then joined the fray but suspended his campaign in late July. U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, R-Jackson, then announced his candidacy.
Although Dooley praises President Donald Trump in his video, Democrats noted that he did not vote in multiple elections when Trump was on the ballot. They also attacked Dooley’s professional career.
“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,” Democratic Party of Georgia Chair Charlie Bailey said Monday. “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.”
