Establishment pro-incumbent Republicans say he’s being ‘short-sighted’…
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., fired back at the Senate GOP’s campaign arm for opposing his Senate bid.
Collins announced on Wednesday that he would challenge Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., for her seat just months after she was appointed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee immediately criticized the decision as “selfish,” arguing that it would unnecessarily force the GOP to spend more time and money in Georgia.
Collins dismissed this criticism as “fake news.”
Don’t be ridiculous, this is FAKE NEWS coming from the head of a Washington-based group whose bylaws require him to support all incumbents, even unelected ones. https://t.co/azpS3PzaCJ
— Doug Collins (@CollinsforGA) January 29, 2020
NRSC Executive Director Kevin McLaughlin said Collins should consider the fate of the entire Senate GOP instead of only looking after his own interests.
“The shortsightedness in this decision is stunning,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “All he has done is put two Senate seats, multiple House seats, and Georgia’s 16 electoral votes in play.”
Trump asked Kemp to give Collins the open Senate seat late last year after the incumbent, Johnny Isakson, decided to step down for health reasons.
But Kemp ignored the request and instead chose Loeffler, an Atlanta businesswoman who Kemp hopes will diversify and increase the electoral standing of the GOP in the state.
Trump has not yet said whether he will support Collins’s Senate bid, but recent poll shows Collins performing slightly better than Loeffler.
Georgia will hold a special jungle primary election on Nov. 3, and the top two winners, regardless of party, will face off in another run-off election afterward.
Collins and his allies are pushing to reform the law, arguing the state should hold a more traditional primary and allow voters to choose just one Republican primary candidate.
Republican voters in Georgia should choose their candidate — not one politician or a Super PAC in Washington.
The time for that contest is now so we can unite well before November.
Fighting ourselves and the left at the same time is a bad strategy. #gapol
— Doug Collins (@CollinsforGA) January 29, 2020