ATLANTA — If a blue wave washes across the country in November, Republicans vying for one of Georgia’s U.S. Senate seats say they can stand as a bulwark for the GOP.
Two incumbent congressmen squared off against three challengers in a debate last week, as they attempted to differentiate themselves ahead of the May 19 primary election.
Whoever emerges will face incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff in November, a prodigious fundraiser. At stake is continued GOP control of the chamber, which works with the U.S. House to pass laws and has unique authority to confirm presidential appointments, including Cabinet secretaries, Supreme Court justices, and federal judges.
The ability to prevail over Ossoff was a key issue in the April 26 debate hosted by the Atlanta Press Club and Georgia Public Broadcasting.
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-St. Simons, repeatedly attacked U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, R-Jackson, over a House probe into allegations that Collins had used government funds to benefit a top aide.
“Mike, if you’re our candidate, we lose,” Carter said.
Collins called it “a total nothingburger,” saying the probe had been triggered by an anonymous complaint.
Collins countered that Carter’s political career had been “littered with complaints, crooked land deals,” urging viewers to “Google Buddy Carter ethics FBI.”
As those two dueled, Derek Dooley sought to appeal to both conservative and mainstream voters.
“Donald Trump is doing a great job trying to make change. He closed the border, for example. We’re getting rid of a lot of the bad guys, but what has Congress done to codify this?” Dooley said. “And this is my point why we need new leadership.”
Immigration is a major issue for Republican voters that may be outweighed by abortion.
“The heartbeat bill has been the law of the land,” Dooley said, adding that the federal government shouldn’t intervene.
