Mike Collins Won the GOP Race. Now Comes the North Atlanta Test.

Mike Collins won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, defeating Derek Dooley and setting up a November race against Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff. Collins had President Donald Trump’s support. Dooley had Gov. Brian Kemp’s backing. In the Republican runoff, Trump’s side won.

Now the race moves to a harder place: Georgia’s suburbs.

For Collins, the question is not whether he can excite Republican voters. He just did that. The question is whether his message can travel through places like Johns Creek, Alpharetta, Milton, Cumming, Suwanee, Duluth and Peachtree Corners, where statewide races are often decided by voters who are conservative on many issues but careful about tone, schools, business, public safety and the cost of daily life.

That is what makes North Atlanta important. These suburbs are not easy to label. They include longtime Republicans, independents, Democratic-leaning professionals, immigrant families, small-business owners and parents who may care more about grocery prices, traffic and school quality than party drama.

Collins will likely make the race about immigration, inflation, crime and support for Trump’s agenda. Ossoff will likely focus on competence, constituent service and independence. Both campaigns will spend heavily trying to define what Georgia wants next.

The runoff also leaves behind a Kemp question. Dooley lost, but the kind of voter Kemp appeals to did not disappear. Collins needs those voters to come home in November. Ossoff needs enough of them to hesitate.

Collins won the Republican fight. The general election will be broader, louder and much more expensive.

And in Georgia, that usually means the suburbs are about to matter again.

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