Former College of Tennessee soccer coach Derek Dooley on Monday joined a crowded Republican area aiming to unseat Democratic U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff in Georgia subsequent yr, a race Republicans hope will broaden their majority within the chamber.
Dooley, 57, who’s backed by Republican Governor Brian Kemp, touted his readiness to work with President Donald Trump in an announcement that referred to as for low taxes, smaller authorities, conservative social values and outcomes for Georgians.
“I’ll work with President Trump, combat for you and at all times put Georgia first,” Dooley mentioned in a two-minute video.
Dooley, the son of legendary College of Georgia soccer coach Vince Dooley, has by no means held public workplace. He joins a race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination that features two sitting members of the U.S. Home of Representatives, Buddy Carter and Mike Collins.
Republicans, who’ve repeatedly misplaced U.S. Senate contests in Georgia in recent times, hope to assert Ossoff’s seat to broaden their 53-47 seat majority within the Senate throughout a cycle that historically punishes the get together of the sitting president.
Georgia is certainly one of six Senate races which are seen as aggressive by political analysts. The opposite 5 are in Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire and North Carolina.
Democrats face an uphill battle in capturing management of the chamber, as they would wish to defend seats in Michigan, Minnesota and New Hampshire the place incumbents are retiring and flip at the very least 4 Republican-held seats for a majority.
They’re seen as having higher odds of capturing the Home of Representatives, although efforts underway in closely Republican Texas to redraw district traces may dim their possibilities in that chamber as properly.
Georgia Republicans had sought to influence Kemp to run towards Ossoff, however the standard two-term governor declined to enter the race.
“The newest addition to Georgia’s messy and chaotic GOP main is a failed soccer coach who has solely ever spoken out to cheerlead Medicaid cuts that damage Georgians,” the Democratic Senatorial Marketing campaign Committee mentioned in a press release.
Dooley was head soccer coach on the College of Tennessee and Louisiana Tech College. He additionally has coached within the Nationwide Soccer League.
Ossoff unseated former Senator David Perdue in a run-off following the November 2020 election. Georgia’s different U.S. senator, Democrat Raphael Warnock, defeated former Republican Senator Kelley Loeffler within the 2020 run-off and overcame a problem from Republican Herschel Walker in a 2022 run-off.
