Trump-backed candidate wins primary to face Jon Ossoff in Georgia midterms – US politics live

Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. Donald Trump’s pick to face rising Democratic star Jon Ossoff in Georgia’s midterm election for senator later this year swept to victory last night. The state’s Republican primary runoff voters chose US representative Mike Collins over former college football coach Derek Dooley to face Ossoff in November. They also selected billionaire healthcare executive Rick Jackson over Trump-backed lieutenant governor Burt Jones to face Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms in November, after a bruising election campaign that led to libel litigation and federal challenges to Georgia election law. Ossoff, who has represented Georgia in the US Senate since 2021, has made waves this year by delivering a series of caustic takes on Donald Trump’s administration . He will now face Collins in the race to retain the competitive seat. Collins, a trucking executive and one-time “freedom caucus” conservative endorsed by Trump, has served in the US House of Representatives since 2023. His father, Mac Collins, served in the House from 1993 to 2002. An anti-abortion hardliner with a history of incendiary social media commentary, Collins has vigorously denied the legitimacy of the 2020 election and defended January 6 rioters. Dooley is the son of legendary University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley. After earning a law degree from UGA, he began working his way through the college coaching ranks, eventually taking the University of Tennessee to three consecutive losing seasons before being fired. Dooley is close friends with outgoing governor Brian Kemp, who had backed Dooley with his endorsement, political staff and fundraising appeals. Jackson will represent the GOP in the Georgia gubernatorial contest. Read the full story: Georgia runoff: Republican voters choose Trump-backed conservative to face Jon Ossoff Read more In other developments: Donald Trump laid into Benjamin Netanyahu , telling a news conference at the G7 summit in France that the Israeli prime minister “has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon”. The Republican-led US Senate on Tuesday narrowly failed to advance a war powers resolution introduced by Democrats that would have directed the president to end hostilities with Iran, by a vote of 48-47. The justice department announced charges against five men for an alleged plot to carry out an attack to kill government officials at the White House UFC event on Sunday. Kash Patel , the FBI director, reportedly surprised and angered US Secret Service officials by announcing an alleged plot to attack the White House UFC event on social media early Tuesday before about 10 suspects had been arrested.