Pat Donahue, Coastal Courier

Having served the state’s 1st U.S. House District for more than a decade, Buddy Carter has decided to see if he can serve the entire state of Georgia.

Carter, a retired pharmacist, is giving up his House seat to run for the Senate in a crowded Republican primary. The winner of that GOP’s primary likely will oppose incumbent Democrat Jon Ossoff.

“It’s a big state,” Carter said. “It’s been a great experience and things are going exceptionally well. We like where we’re at right now.”

Now in his sixth term in Congress, having succeeded Savannah’s Jack Kingston, who also gave up the seat for a U.S. Senate bid, Carter realistically has one of the safest seats in Congress.

Carter has not faced a serious challenge to his House seat since he first won office in 2014. He’s even run unopposed once to retain his 1st District seat. He won re-election in 2024 by his widest margin, 24%, since he began his Congressional career. The closest margin of victory he’s had is by 15.4%, in 2018.

Carter served as Pooler mayor and in the General Assembly as a state representative and senator before running for Congress. While he’s been well known throughout southeast Georgia – and even nationally for his support of President Trump, including nominating the current president for the Nobel Peace Prize – he knows his campaign has to reach out across the state beyond the 15 counties of the 1st District.

“We need to be better known outside our district,” he said.

Yet Carter faces some some other big-name Republicans in the primary, notably fellow U.S. Rep. Mike Collins (R-Jackson) and former University of Tennessee head football coach Derek Dooley, son of the late University of Georgia coach Vince Dooley and a close friend of current Gov.

Brian Kemp. Both Collins and Dooley have touted raising close to $2 million for their campaigns, and Collins also is trumpeting the endorsement of more than 25 county sheriffs, including Wayne County’s Chuck Moseley.

Recent polls show that Ossoff could be vulnerable to a Republican candidate. Collins is either tied or 1% behind Ossoff and Carter is 3-4% behind Ossoff. Ossoff has been in office since winning a 2020 runoff against Republican incumbent David Perdue. Perdue had more votes in the general election but did not gain the 50% plus one majority in order to retain his seat, leading to a runoff that Ossoff won by 1.2%, or fewer than 55,000 votes.

Carter assailed Ossoff for his repeated votes not to adopt a continuing resolution that would reopen the federal government.

“I don’t feel Jon Ossoff represents the values of the state of Georgia,” he said.

“I was born and raised here. I’ve got six granddaughters. I do not want them competing in athletics against a biological man. Jon Ossoff voted for that. He voted against the Working Families Tax Act. He voted against prohibiting illegals from receiving Medicaid.”

Carter is adamant he’s the right choice not only for Republicans but also for the state as a whole.

“We’re going to win the primary and we’re going to win the general,” he said.