by Ty Tagami | Jun 16, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — U.S. Rep. Mike Collins defeated political newcomer Derek Dooley in the Republican runoff for U.S. Senate and will face incumbent Jon Ossoff in November.
The second-term congressman from Jackson held more than a 10 percentage point margin over Dooley after nearly all precincts had reported Tuesday.
Collins thanked Dooley for running a “spirited” campaign and said it was time for their party to unite.
“Republicans have robust primaries — sometimes with strong disagreements — but now we stand united around one mission: defeating Jon Ossoff in November and returning this Senate seat to the people of Georgia,” Collins said.
He benefited from a last-minute endorsement from President Donald Trump, who posted his support on social media after midnight Sunday.
Dooley, a former football coach and the son of legendary Bulldogs leader Vince Dooley, had entered the race with the backing of Gov. Brian Kemp last summer.
Despite his relationship with the popular Republican governor, Dooley had promoted himself as a political outsider, pledging in a debate in May to leave the Senate after serving two six-year terms. Congress had failed to adequately support Trump, he argued, in an effort to appeal to the president’s supporters and undermine incumbents such as Collins.
But Collins pointed to the passage of his Laken Riley Act, signed into law by Trump in January 2025 as the first bill of his second term. The legislation was a reaction to the murder of a University of Georgia student, and it aligned with the president’s immigration enforcement policies.
Collins, a trucking company owner who represents Georgia’s 10th Congressional District east of Atlanta, emerged from the May 19 primary with a 10 percentage point lead over Dooley in their three-way race with U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter.
Trump threw his support behind Collins late in the race.
In a 12:56 a.m. post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump said Collins had been a loyal supporter, and he criticized Dooley as not only a political outsider but also as someone who “has lived outside of Georgia for most of his life.” Trump also criticized Dooley for once saying that Trump had lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden.
by Ty Tagami | Jun 16, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Federal agents have charged a man with violating federal law by flying a drone near Centennial Olympic Park during the 2026 FIFA Fan Festival Friday.
Lorenzo Rojas-Martinez, 37, of Mexico, was charged Monday with operating a drone in a temporary flight restricted zone, according to U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg.
Rojas-Martinez also was charged with illegal reentry by a removed alien, Hertzberg, the federal prosecutor for the Northern District of Georgia, said in a statement.
Hertzberg said the agents allegedly observed Rojas-Martinez operating the drone from a parking lot and recording video of the event.
He said the agents allegedly confirmed Rojas-Martinez had a prior conviction for cocaine distribution and was in the United States unlawfully after two prior deportations.
“Unauthorized drone operations in restricted airspace present a serious risk to public safety, particularly during major international events such as the FIFA World Cup,” Hertzberg said.
by Ty Tagami | Jun 16, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Georgia Tech is losing Ángel Cabrera, who shepherded the campus through a pandemic and into an era of feverish growth as the institute’s 12th president.
Cabrera will leave for the Aspen Institute at the end of October, after the global nonprofit’s board of trustees voted unanimously to hire him as their next president and CEO, the organization said in a statement Monday.
Cabrera, appointed to lead Tech in 2019, oversaw record growth in enrollment and funding, as well as development on the Atlanta campus.
Cabrera brought “energy, warmth, and engagement” to campus, Chancellor Sonny Perdue said in a statement.
“That personal touch has made a profound difference,” Perdue said.
During Cabrera’s tenure, Tech enrolled more in-state undergraduates than ever while raising graduation rates and pushing total enrollment to the highest in the state, Perdue said.
Enrollment grew 55% to more than 56,000.
Annual sponsored research awards surpassed $1.4 billion, boosting Tech to No. 1 nationally in research expenditures among universities without a medical school and No. 2 in federal research funding, according to Tech.
The institute also advanced the development of three “innovation” districts under his watch, called Tech Square, Science Square and Creative Quarter.
Cabrera was the first native of Spain to lead an American university.
After earning undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer and electrical engineering from Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Cabrera attended Tech as a Fulbright scholar, earning an M.S. and Ph.D. in psychology and cognitive science.
Before leading Tech, he served as dean of the IE Business School in Madrid and then as president of the Thunderbird School of Global Management, now part of Arizona State University.
He will succeed Dan Porterfield at the Aspen Institute after Porterfield leaves to become CEO of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation.
Cabrera will lead the Aspen Institute amid a major fundraising push. The nonpartisan organization, founded in 1949 to convene leaders and address societal challenges, said it had raised $340 million toward a $450 million campaign.
Cabrera will remain at Tech until he starts his new job Nov. 1.
Tech had no immediate word on a succession plan for its campus of more than 5,700 faculty and staff.
by Ty Tagami | Jun 15, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — A nuclear power plant in Georgia that predates the presidency of Jimmy Carter got a new lease on life to operate for an additional two decades, Georgia Power announced Monday.
The licenses for the reactors at the Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant near Baxley were set to expire in the 2030s. The two reactor units will be 79 years old when the renewed licenses issued by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission expire in 2054 and 2058.
Georgia Power Chairman, President and CEO Kim Greene said in a statement accompanying the announcement that the company’s nuclear portfolio provides reliable energy at a stable cost.
“This license extension is great news as our state continues to grow and demand for electricity continues to increase,” she said.
Plant Hatch’s first reactor unit came online in 1975, two years before Carter took office as president. Unit 2 entered service in 1979.
Together they produce about 1.8 gigawatts of power, or about 40% of Georgia Power’s nuclear energy.
Altogether, Plant Hatch and Plant Alvin W. Vogtle near Waynesboro produced nearly 30% of the company’s energy last year.
The larger Vogtle has four reactor units, two that date to the late 1980s and two that began generating power in 2023 and 2024. It produces a total of about 4.7 gigawatts.
Both plants are co-owned by Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power Corp., the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and Dalton Utilities. The plants are operated by a Birmingham-based subsidiary of Georgia Power’s owner, the Southern Company.
Over the past two decades, the partnership replaced the Unit 2 cooling tower at Plant Hatch and replaced transformers, water pumps and feedwater heaters.
The federal renewal was based in part on safety and environmental reviews and on aging management programs.
by Ty Tagami | Jun 14, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — With less than two days to go until polls close in the Republican runoff election for governor Tuesday, Gov. Brian Kemp threw his support behind Lt. Gov. Burt Jones to succeed him.
“Over the last eight years, we’ve accomplished a lot and we’ve had a strong ally in Burt Jones. Burt knows how to get things done,” Kemp said in a 36-second YouTube Short video released Sunday night.
The endorsement aligns with President Donald Trump’s pick for Georgia governor.
Trump has been backing Jones since August, when he posted an endorsement on social media. The president has been promoting Jones in public telephone calls since then, each cast as a “tele-rally,” including one on Thursday.
Jones’ opponent, Rick Jackson, has run ads that some construed as promoting an endorsement by Kemp. Kemp subsequently posted a clarifying video on social media saying he had endorsed neither candidate.
Sunday’s post clarified where Kemp stands now.
Although Kemp and Trump are now aligned on their candidate for governor, the two leaders are at odds over who should win the GOP race for U.S. Senate.
Trump announced on social media just before 1 a.m. Sunday that he had decided to back U.S. Rep. Mike Collins as the GOP nominee who can take on incumbent Democrat U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in November.
Kemp has been publicly backing Derek Dooley for about a year as his candidate to topple Ossoff, appearing with Dooley in August at Sanford Stadium before a University of Georgia football game.
In his Sunday YouTube video, Kemp, standing with his wife Marty, said Jones will give voters “a clear choice” this fall against the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
“Let’s get the vote out for Burt on Tuesday,” Marty Kemp said.
Jones said in a statement afterward that “it is my privilege today to receive his full endorsement.”
Democrats said in a statement that Kemp’s endorsement of Jones “adds even more chaos to this already-messy GOP primary.”
by Ty Tagami | Jun 14, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — With two days to go before the runoff election, President Donald Trump has sided with U.S. Rep. Mike Collins in his race for U.S. Senate against Derek Dooley.
Trump said in a 12:56 a.m. post Sunday on Truth Social that Collins “has my Complete and Total Endorsement.”
The support came weeks after Collins beat Dooley 40.5% to 30.2% in the May primary.
Collins posted a brief reaction on X later in the morning, saying he would be the one to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in November.
That is also the goal for Dooley, who posted on X a half hour after Collins that he respected Trump but still expected to beat Collins in Tuesday’s runoff. The former football coach touted his own support from Gov. Brian Kemp.
It is not the first disagreement between Kemp and Trump over a pick for U.S. Senate.
Differences over Kemp’s appointment of Kelly Loeffler to an open U.S. Senate seat in 2019 triggered years of attacks by Trump, which were exacerbated by Kemp’s refusal to call a special legislative session over Trump’s 2020 election loss.
(Trump had wanted Kemp to appoint then-U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, who is not related to Mike Collins, according to an interviewwith the latter first published by the Jackson Progress-Argus in 2022.)
Trump said Mike Collins had been with him “from the very beginning” and offered a genteel critique of Dooley, basically calling him a carpetbagger.
“I don’t know Derek Dooley, and neither does anyone else, but he seems like a nice person. Unfortunately, he has lived outside of Georgia for most of his life,” Trump’s post said. Trump also dinged Dooley for saying Trump had lost the 2020 election.
Dooley has been careful not to alienate Trump supporters, publicly praising the president while bashing his opponent.
“Donald Trump is doing a great job trying to make change,” Dooley said at a debate in April, adding that Congress had not done enough to support the president.
Late on Sunday morning, Ossoff responded with his own social media post, calling both Collins and Dooley “Trump puppets” who had “made themselves both unelectable and terminally inseparable from the toxic president.”
