Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., one of President Donald Trump's fiercest defenders in the ongoing impeachment fight, will pose a serious threat to appointed Sen. Kelly Loeffler in her bid for the GOP nomination for the seat she holds.
Sources close to Collins, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee and one of the people defending Trump during his Senate impeachment trial, told Newsmax that he could overcome Loeffler's incumbency and personal wealth to win the Senate seat.
Loeffler has promised to spend $20 million of her own money to win the remainder of former Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson's term. She was appointed in December and took office in January.
Collins, a four-term lawmaker and stalwart conservative, is expected to have support from Donald Trump Jr. and other members of the president's inner circle.
Trump, however, is expected to stay out of what is sure to be a heated contest.
When the ailing Isakson resigned his seat at the end of the year, fellow Republican and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp turned to Loeffler, the multi-millionaire chief executive officer of Bakkt, a subsidiary of commodity and financial services provider Intercontinental Exchange.
In naming Loeffler as the state's first female U.S. senator in 97 years, Kemp passed over Collins — who Trump himself pressed him to choose.
Sources close to Collins say the congressman would be helped if the Georgia State Legislature enacts H.R. 757 to change the current system of electing a new senator.
Under present law, candidates would compete in a November "jungle primary" — one in which all candidates appear on the same ballot and, if no one wins the majority vote, the top two vote getters meet in a run-off.
But if H.R. 757 — which is backed by Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, a Republican — becomes law, the remainder of Isakson's term would be filled by having candidates for nomination compete in a May primary and then square off in November.
Collins is better known to the GOP's grassroots and thus would benefit from a brief nomination battle concluding in May.
A longer contest for the nomination would help the relatively unknown Loeffler, who will need to spend heavily to become more well known.
The same sources say they are not worried a contentious primary would help the Democrats in the race.
Both of the announced Democrats running for the seat have relatively fewer resources: Jon Ossoff, who lost a much-watched special election for the House in 2017, and Matt Lieberman, a tech entrepreneur and the son of former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who was the Democrats' 2000 vice presidential nominee.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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