GOP’s Rough Week: Loeffler Facing Expensive Intraparty Brawl After New Challenger Splits Georgia Republicans

Collins and Loeffler set to plunge GOP into “a brutal Republican-on-Republican” fight 

ATLANTA — It’s been a rough week for “political mega-donor” Kelly Loeffler and the Georgia GOP. After weeks of poor poll numbers and repeated failures to rally a “skeptical” Republican base, Loeffler is set to enter a bitter and expensive “all-out Republican feud” against ultraconservative Congressman Doug Collins. Already, she’s pouring millions of her vast fortune into the race to try and stay above water while out-of-state groups pummel the airwaves as part of a multimillion-dollar slugfest between the two candidates.

Meanwhile, Washington Republicans are scrambling to defend an increasingly vulnerable Loeffler by slamming Collins’ run as “selfish” and “shortsighted” while the state GOP continues to fracture, ramping up an already “fierce melee” within the party.

What’s the result of this latest “bitter Republican showdown”? It’s already leading to “a Republican Party rift that is poised to put Georgia in play for Democrats” as key political prognosticators today downgraded Republicans’ chance of holding Loeffler’s seat. 

See the latest coverage of Republicans’ all-out brawl:

• Cook Political Report: Georgia Senate Special Election Moves From Likely to Lean Republican — “An expensive and brutal primary…is exactly what national Republicans wanted to avoid.”

• AJC: “The race for Loeffler’s U.S. Senate seat is set to be an all-out Republican feud”

• Vox: Republicans could be in for an ugly face-off in the 2020 Georgia Senate race

• AJC: Georgia GOP members face difficult choice between Collins, Loeffler in Senate race

• Washington Examiner: Doug Collins Senate bid threatens to hand Georgia to the Democrats

• AJC: ‘Doubts and questions.’ Collins’ Senate bid opens fissure in Georgia GOP

• POLITICO: Conservative group will launch ad broadside against Collins in Georgia

• Yahoo News: Collins launched a Senate bid and the Republican Party was not thrilled

• The Hill: Senate GOP campaign arm rips Collins as selfish for entering Georgia race

• NY Post: Collins ripped by Republicans over primary challenge against senator

• The Hill: Doug Collins fires back at head of Senate GOP’s campaign arm: ‘Fake news’

• POLITICO: “Collins announced Wednesday he is running…setting up an intraparty battle…in the emerging battleground state.”

• Axios: Rep. Doug Collins confirms Georgia Senate run, triggering GOP battle

• WaPo: “Rep. Douglas A. Collins…sparked an intraparty Republican brawl”

• The Hill: “Collins’s decision could give Democrats a better chance of flipping the seat, as…he and Loeffler will likely spend millions of dollars targeting each other.”

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