October 1, 2026
ATLANTA (AP) — Former football coach and attorney Derek Dooley on Monday announced his 2026 Republican bid for the U.S. Senate in Georgia against Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff.
The 57-year-old Dooley is backed by Gov. Brian Kemp and has been teasing a bid since June. He joins a GOP field that includes U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, as well as activist Reagan Box.
Kemp turned to Dooley after deciding not to run for the seat himself. Georgia Republicans are looking to topple Ossoff, considered the Senate’s most vulnerable Democratic incumbent seeking reelection next year.
“Professional politicians like Jon Ossoff are the problem,” Dooley said in a two-minute launch video “Lawlessness, open season on the border, inflation everywhere, woke stuff, that’s what they represent. We need new leadership in Georgia. That’s why I’m running for Senate.”
Dooley has never held elective office before. He says he’ll run as a political outsider, a lane David Perdue traveled in Georgia to win election to the Senate in 2014. Dooley said he would bring “good, old-fashioned Georgia common sense,” and “work with President Trump, fight for you and always put Georgia first.”
Dooley is the son of legendary University of Georgia coach Vince Dooley and was a lawyer before he went into coaching. Derek Dooley was fired in 2012 as head coach at Tennessee after compiling a 15-21 record with the Volunteers. Since then, he has been an assistant coach with the Dallas Cowboys, the University of Missouri, the New York Giants, and the University of Alabama.
As a teenager, Kemp was a frequent guest in the Dooley home, and he roomed with Derek’s older brother, Daniel Dooley, at the University of Georgia. Kemp has the most effective Republican political organization in Georgia, and Dooley has hired Kemp aides to run his race, including political strategist Cody Hall and fundraiser Chelsey Ruppersburg.
But a number of Republicans endorsed Collins after he entered the field last week, including former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Also backing the congressman are state senators including state Senate Majority Leader Jason Anavitarte. Even one of Kemp’s official floor leaders in the state House, Rep. Matthew Gambill, parted ways with the governor to endorse Collins.
Dooley would be far from the first football coach to run for office. Former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville was elected to the Senate in 2020 from Alabama and is now running for governor. University of Nebraska coaching legend Tom Osborne served three terms in the U.S. House.
Dooley walked on at the University of Virginia and earned a scholarship as a wide receiver. He earned a law degree from the University of Georgia and briefly practiced law in Atlanta before working his way up the college coaching ladder, becoming head coach for three years at Louisiana Tech before Tennessee.
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