Rep. Mike Collins‘s (R-GA) campaign said it raised nearly $2 million in the third quarter, matching the early pace of Gov. Brian Kemp’s handpicked candidate Derek Dooley in the GOP primary to challenge Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) in 2026.

Collins, a second-term congressman and trucking executive who entered the Senate race in late July, said he raised $1.9 million in direct contributions from more than 40,000 donors, with an average donation of $47.31, during the three-month period that ended Sept. 30. His campaign also said he transferred just over $1 million from his House campaign account, bringing total receipts to about $2.9 million and leaving roughly $2.4 million cash on hand. 

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In a statement, Collins described the totals as proof of “grassroots energy” across all 159 Georgia counties and every U.S. state and territory.

“This is a movement growing stronger every day, and people are voting with their wallets,” he said. 

The numbers, which the campaign released ahead of the Oct. 15 Federal Election Commission filing deadline, represent the first major fundraising test for Collins, who has faced skepticism from Republican operatives about whether his small-dollar fundraising network could compete with Kemp’s donor establishment or other deep-pocketed rivals.

“Nobody expected Mike to raise anywhere close to that number,” said a Georgia Republican with no ties to Collins’s campaign, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal party dynamics. “If you’re a Republican in Georgia, it’s becoming very clear that Mike Collins is the guy — and I think it’s only a matter of time before the president ends this primary and we move onto the general.”

Dooley’s campaign, meanwhile, said the first-time candidate and former University of Tennessee football coach raised just over $1.85 million in his first 58 days in the race and ended the quarter with $1.7 million cash on hand. Backed by Kemp’s influential statewide network, Dooley’s campaign said the total came entirely from contributions, with no personal loans, and pointed to the figure as proof of “early momentum” for his “Georgia First” message.

“This incredible, early support for our campaign proves that hardworking Georgians want a political outsider with common-sense leadership representing them in the U.S. Senate,” Dooley said in a statement.

Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA), a six-term Savannah pharmacist-turned-lawmaker, has not yet released his third-quarter fundraising numbers. In the previous quarter, his campaign said he raised about $1.1 million and loaned his campaign $2 million, part of a pledge to spend at least $10 million of his own money.

According to a Quantus study conducted Sept. 9-12 among 624 likely Georgia general election voters, Ossoff runs even with Collins at 38% each in a head-to-head matchup, leads Carter 40%-37%, and tops Dooley 42%-35%.

Collins’s campaign said its latest totals “blow expectations out of the water,” arguing that his ability to raise money from both the Kemp-aligned business community and pro-Trump activists shows crossover strength within the party. The campaign also said Collins has public backing from more than 65 federal, state, and local elected officials and has mobilized a volunteer network of over 500 activists across all 159 Georgia counties.

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The dueling hauls highlight how the race to challenge Ossoff has become an early proxy battle between Kemp’s donor establishment and Trump’s grassroots base. Kemp, in a private donor call obtained by the Washington Examiner last month, told supporters that nominating another sitting member of Congress would make it easier for Democrats to attack their voting records, a veiled reference to both Collins and Carter, and argued that Dooley’s outsider profile made him a stronger general-election candidate.

Ossoff, who is seeking a second term, has not yet released his third-quarter fundraising totals. His campaign ended the previous quarter with about $9 million cash on hand, highlighting the financial edge Democrats are expected to carry into 2026.