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The Republican candidates seeking the Senate nomination in Georgia – (from left) Rep. Buddy Carter, Rep. Mike Collins, John Coyne, Derek Dooley and Jonathan McColumn – debated on Sunday. (Photo courtesy Georgia Public Broadcasting)
Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff has built a substantial early fundraising lead over the leading contenders for the Republican nomination in the Georgia Senate race – one of the battleground elections that could determine control of the chamber next year.
According to campaign finance reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission following the first quarter of 2026, Ossoff has raised $57.3 million – roughly eight and a half times as much as the next-highest candidate, Buddy Carter, who has raised $6.7 million. Ossoff’s total builds on his 2025 fundraising, when he brought in $43 million – more than any other Senate candidate.
An OpenSecrets analysis of the FEC filings shows that Ossoff’s campaign is being fueled primarily by small-dollar donations, while the three leading Republican challengers – former college football coach Derek Dooley and Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins – rely on markedly different funding models, including candidate loans, funds from joint fundraising committees and large-dollar contributions.
More than half of Ossoff’s total receipts – about 53% – came from small-dollar donations, defined as contributions of $200 or less. By contrast, nearly all of Dooley’s fundraising – about 97% – came from large-dollar contributions, while Carter has loaned his campaign $3 million, accounting for roughly 45% of his total receipts. Collins has relied on a mix of large-dollar donations (35%), small-dollar contributions (25%) and funds from other committees (29%), including his joint fundraising committee.
The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election forecaster, previously rated the contest a toss-up before shifting it to Lean Democratic earlier this month, and a recent survey from Emerson College Polling found Ossoff narrowly leading each of his potential Republican opponents, with many voters still undecided.
Some political scientists say those differences in fundraising structure may offer an early signal of which Republican candidate could be best positioned to emerge as the nominee and take on Ossoff in the general election.
“It’s interesting to compare among the Republicans where they’re getting their money and how much they’re raising as a clue to who might be better positioned to be the nominee,” said Martin Cohen, a political science professor at James Madison University. “More variation in fundraising totals could be significant in determining who becomes a nominee.”
Big checks drive early momentum
Danielle Thomsen, a professor of political science at the University of California, Irvine, said early fundraising patterns may offer insight into a candidate’s staying power. While early totals do not necessarily predict electoral outcomes, they can shape how journalists, donors and party leaders assess which candidates are viable, she said.
According to Thomsen, most non-incumbents raise the bulk of their early funds from individual contributions, particularly large-dollar donors.
“You get more bang for your buck with the large dollar donations in terms of what people see,” Thomsen said, noting that most media coverage reports candidates’ overall fundraising totals without distinguishing how candidates raise their money. “When people look at the FEC filings, they look at the top number, and large-dollar donations contribute most to this top line.”
So far, Dooley and Collins have both relied heavily on large-dollar donors to build early fundraising totals.
Dooley’s campaign has drawn almost entirely from high-dollar contributions, with about 97% of his $3.6 million in total receipts – more than $3.5 million – coming from itemized donations larger than $200.
Collins has taken a more varied approach, but large-dollar donors still account for the largest share of his fundraising. Of the roughly $4.3 million he has raised, about $1.5 million, or 36%, came from large-dollar contributions, followed by about $1.3 million from his joint fundraising committee (29%), $1.1 million in small-dollar donations (27%) and $295,100 in PAC contributions (7%).
Gary Jacobson, a professor of political science at UC San Diego, said Dooley’s significant share of large-dollar contributions may signal that party elites and experienced donors are confident in his chances, since those donors tend to be more strategic in their giving.
“They’re not going to invest in a loser, so it’s a sign that there’s some elites and regular party contributors who think that he has a chance,” Jacobson said.
Dooley has secured high-profile backing from Gov. Brian Kemp, along with an endorsement from state Rep. Lauren McDonald. Collins has touted a broad slate of endorsements, including former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), several Republican members of Congress and dozens of state lawmakers and local officials.
Carter takes a different approach: self-funding
Unlike Dooley and Collins, Carter has leaned heavily on self-funding rather than outside support. Carter loaned his campaign $3 million of his own money, accounting for nearly half (45%) of his total net receipts. Individual contributions make up less than one-third of his fundraising, including 23% from large donors and 7% from small-dollar contributions. PACs account for another 16%.
Self-funding can boost fundraising totals, but it may also signal a lack of outside support, according to Cohen.
“We look at not just the amounts but also where the money’s coming from,” Cohen said. “If a candidate is loaning themselves money to bump up their totals, that is not as strong a position as someone who’s getting money from across the spectrum of political coalition members in the Republican Party.”
Research shows that self-funding does not convey the same strength or viability as support from outside donors, according to Thomsen, who studies fundraising in House races from 1980 to 2022 and is the author of “The Money Signal: How Fundraising Matters in American Politics.” She has explained that few nonincumbent general election winners in the House rely heavily on self-funding for early money. Among non-incumbent general election winners of House races from 2014 to 2024, about half contributed some of their early funds, though only about 5% self-funded all or nearly all of their early money and about 10% contributed half or more, according to Thomsen’s research.
“It doesn’t give you the same momentum going into the next quarter as support from individual contributions,” Thomsen said.
Small donors fuel Ossoff’s campaign
In contrast to his Republican challengers, Ossoff has built his fundraising edge on a broad base of small-dollar donors. More than half of his fundraising – 53% – comes from small-dollar donors, while large contributions make up 34%. PACs account for just 1% of his total receipts, and transfers from other committees, including his joint fundraising committee, total about $6 million, or 10%.
By comparison, in the 2024 election cycle, Senate incumbents raised on average 31% of their funds from small-dollar donations and 7% from PACs, according to an OpenSecrets analysis.
Ossoff’s high share of small-dollar donations and minimal reliance on PAC funding is “really uncommon” for an incumbent, said Thomsen, who notes that incumbents typically receive a greater share of their early fundraising from PACs and itemized donors.
Ossoff has received more than $800,000 in PAC money this cycle, but that amount is dwarfed by his small-dollar contributions. Ossoff has been a small-donor powerhouse since his high-profile 2020 run, when he raised nearly $70 million — about 45% of his $153.6 million total — from small-dollar donors.
James Gimpel, a professor at the University of Maryland, said Ossoff’s strong support among small-dollar donors suggests voters across the country are supporting him because they see the race as consequential for Senate control.
“Democrats want to hold on to that seat, and they really see it as essential to their having a chance to win control of the Senate,” Jacobson added. “They see him as a strong candidate worthy of a good investment, so they are not going to let him suffer anything from a lack of resources.”
Money matters in elections – but only to a point
Heading into the second quarter of 2026, Ossoff holds a significant cash advantage over his Republican challengers. He has amassed a $31.7 million war chest, far outpacing Carter, Collins and Dooley, who reported $3.7 million, $2.1 million and $2.2 million in cash on hand, respectively.
While fundraising can shape early perceptions of viability, many political scientists say it is not a reliable predictor of election outcomes.
“Money seems to be the price of admission, but beyond that, I don’t think it’s as predictive as some other variables, including elite endorsements,” said Cohen, who noted that President Donald Trump has not yet weighed in on the race but that his endorsement could be extremely beneficial in the Republican primary. “So I think early money can be overemphasized.”
In a race where both sides are expected to invest heavily, even fundraising gaps may not translate into a decisive advantage. Outside groups have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into recent Georgia Senate races. Independent expenditures reached over $239 million in 2022 and surpassed $450 million across the state’s two Senate contests in 2020, according to OpenSecrets data. Ossoff’s 2020 race drew the most independent-expenditure spending of any race that cycle.
“The relative amount of money between one side and the other isn’t what determines the outcome in a campaign where there will be basically saturation campaigning,” Jacobson said. “Nobody gets a major advantage from that because the information environment is already full. It’s the message and the candidate that matters.”
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