ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Republican Mike Collins on Monday joined the field challenging Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in the state the GOP has named as their top target to add a Senate seat in 2026.
A second-term member of Congress from a district east of Atlanta, Collins became the newest top Republican to get into the primary race. U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter is already running, while state Insurance Commissioner John King dropped out. Also expected to run is former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley.
“I don’t know who Jon Ossoff really works for, but it sure as heck isn’t Georgia," Collins said in a video released Monday. "It’s time to send a trucker to the U.S. Senate, steamroll the radical left, deliver on President Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda and put the people of Georgia back in the driver’s seat.”
Collins had been mulling a run since Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced in May that he would not run against Ossoff, depriving Republicans of their top choice to challenge a senator who won the 2021 runoff in the wake of the 2020 election. Twin victories by Ossoff and Raphael Warnock gave Democrats control of the U.S. Senate at the time and. It was the first time since 2002 that Georgia had two Democratic senators.
Although Democrats have made Georgia increasingly competitive, Collins is among those who view Ossoff's election as a fluke and proclaim that the state is still fundamentally conservative.
The 58-year-old Collins is the son of the late Mac Collins, an eight-term Republican congressman who lost his own bid for Senate in 2004. Mike Collins is a co-owner of a family trucking firm and made a losing bid for Congress in 2014. He reemerged to win a 2022 race for an open seat, portraying himself as an everyman trucker and hard-core Donald Trump acolyte. With a big, booming personality and an edgy social media presence, Collins calls himself a “MAGA workhorse.”
Kemp and Trump have met and said they would try to agree on a preferred candidate. Anyone anointed by both would be stamped as the Republican front-runner. Kemp told Collins and others last week that he would support Dooley, but Trump isn't ready to endorse yet.
Collins has portrayed his interest in the Senate as seeking to best serve Trump.
“I am going to continue to talk with President Trump and his team just about where we can be the best, beneficial, most help in this mission to make sure we get a Republican in the U.S. Senate from Georgia," Collins said in a July 8 video.
Collins' district stretches across 18 counties from the eastern suburbs of Atlanta through Athens. His best-known legislative accomplishment is a law passed this year to require the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency to detain undocumented immigrants charged with theft. That was a response to the 2024 murder of Laken Riley, a nursing student killed by Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan man whom federal officials said entered the U.S. illegally and was allowed to stay while he pursued his immigration case.
The representative says he's someone who can get things done, but often takes a combative approach on social media. In March 2024 he was criticized for promoting a post from an antisemitic account that attacked a Jewish journalist as a “garbage human.” In February 2024, his account on the social media platform X was temporarily suspended after he suggested that a person arrested by federal authorities should be transported by “Pinochet Air,” a reference to people thrown to their deaths from helicopters during the rule of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
That strategy could help Collins draw attention to wield against Ossoff — the only Democratic Senate incumbent seeking reelection in 2026 who represents a state Trump won. But Democratic Party of Georgia Chair Charlie Bailey said in a Monday statement that Collins has already proved he's a “MAGA extremist” and that the campaign will “expose just how out of step Collins is with Georgia voters.”
Ossoff held his second campaign rally July 12 in Savannah. National Republicans have already launched multiple rounds of advertising against him.
Ossoff raised $21 million in the first six months of this year and had $15.5 million in cash on June 30. But that's only the beginning. Ossoff and Warnock's twin Senate victories in 2021 cost more than $900 million combined, according to OpenSecrets, which tracks political spending. Warnock’s 2022 reelection over Republican Herschel Walker cost more than $470 million, OpenSecrets found.
FILE - Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., center,, is joined from left by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., as they talk to reporters about the Laken Riley Act, a bill to detain unauthorized immigrants who have been accused of certain crimes, at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
BOSTON (AP) — When Zdeno Chara signed with the Boston Bruins in 2006, the No. 3 he wore early in his career had already been retired by the Original Six franchise.
So he picked No. 33 without giving it much thought.
“Little did I know how meaningful 33 was,” Chara said on Thursday night before his number was raised to the TD Garden rafters not far from where Larry Bird's No. 33 already hangs in Celtics green.
It is the 13th number retired by the Bruins, and the latest in a collection of Hall of Fame defenseman that runs from Eddie Shore to Bobby Orr to Raymond Bourque.
“It's a huge honor,” Chara told reporters. "I can’t explain to you how honored I feel. I’m humbled about being selected to be one of the numbers being retired. Being with that history, forever."
The 2009 Norris Trophy winner and a 2025 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, Chara spent 14 of his 24 NHL seasons in Boston, leading the Bruins to the 2011 Stanley Cup championship. His 1,680 games is the most of any NHL defenseman; at 6 feet, 9 inches (2.06m), he is the tallest player in league history, and his 108.8 mph (175.1 kmh) slap shot in the 2012 skills competition remains the NHL record.
But his teammates and other Bruins attending Thursday's ceremony said Chara's biggest contribution was signing with a team that hadn't won a playoff series in six years — “the best decision I ever made” — and turning them into champions.
“Things really changed when Zee came here as a free agent,” Bourque said. "From that point on, the culture and everything that comes with that, and the success and the run that they had, he was such a big part of that.
“He’s a legend,” Bourque said. “He really deserves to be up there.”
Bourque was among the former Bruins greats in attendance, along with Orr — both of them, like Chara, Boston defensemen who finished their careers elsewhere on their way to the Hall of Fame. They arrived via gold carpet that led them past adoring fans and the statue of Orr flying through the air following his Cup-winning goal in the 1970 finals.
Other fellow retired number honorees in attendance included Cam Neely, Willie O’Ree, Rick Middleton, Terry O'Reilly and John Bucyk. The current Bruins sat on the bench, all wearing Chara jerseys.
Five members of the 2011 roster — Patrice Bergeron, Mark Recchi, Dennis Seidenberg, David Krejci and Tuukka Rask — carried the retired number onto the ice, and teammate Andrew Ference served as emcee.
In his speech, Chara read the names of every player on the Bruins last Cup winners. Asked why, he said after: “Without championships, you are not going to be successful, you’re not going to be recognized.
"The championships, that’s what they do. They raise everyone, they extend careers for everyone,” he explained. "They create dynasties. They create stories. They create memories. They created what we’re experiencing tonight.
"It’s very simple: Once you win the championship, everything gets so much better for everyone. And the most beautiful thing about it: You create extended families with each other. It’s true. You have bonds, you have friendships that are now still forever. It’s amazing; it’s like you’re seeing your brother. You trust the person; you know everything about them. And anytime anybody needs something, you’re there for them.
“That’s what winning championships do,” he said. “Not just for a career, but for the rest of your lives, it means something very special.”
The ceremony at center ice featured a “Big Zee” ice sculpture flanking the podium and a large No. 33 behind it. Fans were asked to get in their seats two hours early, and the full TD Garden erupted in a giant shout of “Zee!” followed by an extended cheer of “Thank you, Chara!”
A highlight video featured former Bruins Brad Marchand and current coach Marco Sturm, Chara's teammate from 2006-10. Many of them spoke of the way Chara led by example.
“He wasn’t really a ‘Rah, rah!’ guy,” former Bruins forward and current team president Neely said, “but when he spoke, it was with a purpose.”
And so, when it was time to raise his No. 33 to the rafters, Chara stood by with his wife, Tatiana, while their children — Zack, Ben and Elliz — pulled the ropes.
“That’s the biggest reward for me: To see my children and my family doing it instead of me. I think I get better joy watching them doing it than the joy of me doing it because it's so much more meaningful,” he explained. "They deserve that more than me."
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Former Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara speaks during his number retirement ceremony before an NHL hockey game between the Boston Bruins and the Seattle Kraken Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)
Former Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara leads his family over to his number "33" to raise it to the rafters before an NHL hockey game between the Boston Bruins and the Seattle Kraken, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)
Former Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara, center, waves to the crowd during his number retirement ceremony, as Bruins' players with their number already retired, from left, Willie O'Ree, Rick Middleton, Terrry O'Reilly, Cam Neely, emcee Andrew Ferrance and Bobby Orr look on before an NHL hockey game between the Boston Bruins and the Seattle Kraken, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)
Former Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara's number "33" is raised to the rafters at TD Garden before an NHL hockey game between the Boston Bruins and the Seattle Kraken Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)
Bobby Orr applauds, left bottom, as former Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara waves to the crowd during his number retirement ceremony before an NHL hockey game between the Boston Bruins and the Seattle Kraken, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)
