Congressman Doug Collins speaks outside the Georgia House of Representatives on Jan. 28, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)

ATLANTA – High-stakes rule changes for a U.S. Senate election in Georgia sped through a state House committee Tuesday morning, hours after news broke that a major contender is poised to enter the race against appointed U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler.

Congressman Doug Collins, a Gainesville Republican who is among President Donald Trump’s staunchest allies, will likely enter the race to complete former Sen. Johnny Isakson’s term, several media outlets reported Monday night. Isakson resigned at year’s end due to health complications from Parkinson’s disease.

Collins’ path to compete against Loeffler, an Atlanta businesswoman, could be made easier by legislation aimed at overhauling rules governing the special election in Georgia to fill Isakson’s seat. Kemp, who picked Loeffler last month to hold the seat until a November election, has said he would veto the bill if it clears the Georgia General Assembly.

A Baptist pastor and U.S. Air Force Reserve chaplain, Collins did not announce his candidacy when asked Tuesday morning at the Capitol. He was there to deliver the morning sermon in the Georgia House of Representatives.

“There’ll be more coming later,” he said.

Collins’ entry in the race would put him and powerful supporters like Georgia House Speaker David Ralston on a collision course with Kemp. While Ralston hailed his Collins as a steadfast friend in the House, Kemp rallied support for his pick in Loeffler in an emailed statement touting her anti-abortion stance and support for Trump’s agenda.

“Kelly is a life-long Republican who shares our conservative values and vision for a safer, stronger Georgia,” the governor said.

Introduced on Monday, House Bill 757 would do away with the free-for-all “jungle” primary that Georgia law requires for special elections, in which all candidates – Democratic and Republican alike – compete on the same ballot. The measure would restore the traditional party primaries in May, followed by a November general election between the primary winners.

The wife of a billionaire financier and herself formerly head of a bitcoin company, Loeffler has millions of dollars at her disposal in the campaign to keep her appointed seat. But Collins hails from a conservative stronghold in the state, has elevated his national profile over the past year and was Trump’s favored pick for the Senate seat.

If passed, the special-election bill moving through the state legislature would greatly reduce chances for a runoff in a jungle primary, which likely would result in votes being split between several strong candidates all competing at once. The top candidate in the free-for-all format would need more than 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff with the second-highest vote getter.

The rule change revises a less sweeping bill as an amendment brought by House Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire. At a committee meeting Tuesday, Blackmon said avoiding a runoff would cost Georgia taxpayers less money.

“We are absolutely certain to have an extra cost for a runoff” with a jungle primary, Blackmon said.

The measure faced opposition from Rep. Scot Turner, R-Holly Springs, who said revising the election format is unnecessary and would prompt harmful “inter-party squabbling.”

“There are going to be a lot of hard choices to make because of the sides lining up on this issue,” Turner said.

The amended bill passed and is on track for debate on the House floor.