Georgia election results are coming in as Jon Ossoff defends his Senate seat on Tuesday and Republicans try to keep the governor’s office after two terms under Brian Kemp. The first numbers are likely to reflect mail ballots and early in-person votes before Election Day ballots are fully added.
Ossoff enters the count with about $137 million raised as of Oct. 14, far ahead of Mike Collins, who had raised about $11 million by the same date. Collins won the Republican nomination on June 16 by 56% to 45% over Derek Dooley, after Donald Trump endorsed Collins and Kemp backed Dooley.
Georgia Senate control
Ossoff is the only Democratic senator seeking reelection in a state Donald Trump carried in 2024. That leaves his race tied to the broader Senate math: Republicans can lose no more than three of their 53 Senate seats and still keep control with JD Vance casting tiebreaking votes.
The campaign finance gap has been one of the clearest contrasts in the race. Ossoff’s haul is roughly 12.5 times Collins’ total, a margin that has helped define the scale of the contest even before ballots are counted.
Brian Kemp and Georgia
The governor’s race is also on the ballot as Republicans try to hold the office after Kemp’s second term. Rick Jackson received 53% of the June runoff vote and defeated Burt Jones, while Keisha Lance Bottoms received 56% of the vote in the May primary in a field of seven.
Georgia law allows county elections officials to begin tabulating mail ballots at 7 a.m. on Election Day. Because mail ballots and early in-person votes are counted first, the opening returns can lean Democratic before later Election Day ballots narrow the margins.
Early and Mail ballots
That reporting pattern has mattered since early and mail voting became highly politicized during the 2020 election. The first votes reported Tuesday are expected to include many of those ballots, so the early count may not match the final shape of either race.
For voters following the count, the practical next step is simple: watch how the early totals compare with later Election Day ballots as county officials keep tabulating after polls close. The question left on the board is how the final vote totals break once every ballot type is included.
