Q&A with Derek Dooley on U.S. Senate run, Iran and congressional reforms

MARIETTA - Though former Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley has never served in public office, he believes that's exactly what makes him the right candidate to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate.

Dooley, the son of the late University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley, says he hopes to bring an "outcome-oriented" coach's mentality to Washington, arguing that decades in football taught him how to build teams, solve problems and deliver results - qualities he says are lacking in Congress.

He is seeking to unseat U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, running unopposed, by first receiving the Republican nomination in the May 19 primary. Dooley is up against U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, as well as former Senate candidates Jonathan McColumn and John Coyne III.

Dooley sat down with the Marietta Daily Journal Monday to discuss his campaign priorities, including congressional term limits and banning stock trading by members of Congress.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. A longer version of the interview is online at mdjonline.com.

MDJ: Tell us about yourself. Why are you running for U.S. Senate?

Derek Dooley: I grew up down in Athens, Georgia. I'm a political outsider. I went to (University of) Georgia law school, had a brief career practicing law, but I was honored to watch my father (Vince Dooley) serve this state for over 40 years in so many capacities, … and I wanted to follow his legacy. So I quit practicing law, and went on a 28-year career as a football coach, where I just loved the impact it made on young people. But I became really frustrated after COVID, when I started seeing things in our country I thought I'd never see and it was supported here by our senator, Jon Ossoff.

I also became frustrated at the leadership up in D.C. I think Congress has changed. It's not working for the people the way it used to, and it's time we start sending some people up to D.C. that not only have some common sense, that not only share Georgia values, but most importantly, they're going up there for the right reasons, and that's to work with others to deliver results for you.

Q: Tell me about those frustrations.

A: ... Careerism. ... There's 74 members of Congress who've been up there 20 years or more. ... Corruption ... People sit on committees, they have access to information we don't have, and of course, their portfolios just go off the roof. But mostly it's the inaction. Nothing's happening. There's a lot of yelling and screaming. We're drifting from crisis to crisis, and we're not working together to solve problems for the people. ... Too many people are more concerned about their political careers or being a celebrity on social media or Fox News than they are working with others to deliver results.

Q: You've never held public office. Why should Georgians trust you to step directly into the U.S. Senate?

A: I think that's actually a real advantage that I haven't held public office. I've been in a three decade profession where it wasn't about me, it was about people. And when the people succeeded, when the team succeeded, you succeeded. It's a very outcome-oriented business. There's a lot of accountability, but ultimately, your job is to work with people from all walks of life who have a lot of dreams. They all have a lot of challenges, and you're able to help them. You're helping them not only become better players, but also better people and better husbands and better dads. That's the kind of leadership that I want to bring, representing all people of Georgia. It's not about me, it's about them and I think that's what we've lost.

Q: You've acknowledged not voting for many years. Why didn't you participate in elections, and what changed?

A: I did vote in 2024 for President Trump, and did in 2022 for Gov. Kemp, ... but there was a time when I was moving state to state, where I didn't vote. But what changed really was what happened after COVID, when I started seeing things in our country I just thought I'd never see in my lifetime. I felt like we were getting driven off a cliff... As I became more engaged, I started really seeing what was going on with leadership across the board. ... I'm hoping that my experience can motivate and inspire millions of other voters who don't show up at the polls, whether it's primaries or midterms or any election, and hopefully I can be an inspiration to them that, look, your vote matters, and if you don't get engaged, you have this risk of our country can really go off the rails.

Q: Beyond slogans, what are the top three policies you would actively push in your first year?

A: ...If I could only accomplish one thing ... it would be term limits. I think it's the most important step that we can take to get Congress working for our people again. ... Everybody has issues that affect them day to day, but the one overarching issue is their disappointment in Congress. It's my goal to go up there and fight for a lot of reforms and changes that I think can get Congress working better for the people, and it's why I outlined it in our Georgia First contract. The three big things that I've put in that contract that have to do with that are, one, term limits, I'm only going to serve two times, and I think we got to get it across the finish line. But the second thing is, I'm not going to trade stocks or crypto while in office, and I'm going to fight to ban that nonsense, because I think it erodes trust. And the third thing is, I'm not going to take a check in a government shutdown. And I think we need to reform what happens when Congress doesn't do its job. I think we should end their pay,... their privileges. And so if I left my service of this country and (was) able to do some reforms that changed the incentives of how Congress works, I think that trickles down into all other issues, because I just believe it's the root of evil up there.

Q: One issue we hear across the board is affordability. What is your plan to lower healthcare costs and expand access in Georgia?

A: Let me start with just the big picture cost of living, because that's the, of course, No. 1 issue as I've driven around the state.

… We've got to stop this government spending addiction. We haven't balanced a budget in 25 years, … For every dollar we bring in in revenue, we're spending $1.33 and at what point does this become catastrophic? It's just a total lack of discipline, and ... it puts pressure on every segment of the economy.

... As I've driven around the state and asked a lot of these job creators, how can the federal government help? Eight out of 10 of them say, "Get the hell out of the way." There's so much regulation and bureaucracy that burdens a lot of these job creators, that extends projects, makes it more costly, kills jobs before it happens and that gets passed on to us. But it's not just about lowering the cost, because I think the third thing is addressing this massive skills gap that we have in our country. We told a whole generation it was college or bust, and here we now have, I think, 7 million jobs unfilled. …We're in sort of this transformative period in our economy with AI and bringing a lot of manufacturing back. We got to get back to bringing and developing skills in high schools. ... We got to expand our technical colleges and then partner them all with our employers. And I think Gov. Kemp has been a real leader in this in Georgia, I think we're probably thriving better than any other state in that area, and I think the country needs to follow suit.

Q: What will you do to lower healthcare costs?

A: …I got a son who's a Type 1 diabetic. My wife is an OB-GYN in a rural area, and there's nobody that can appreciate the frustration everybody has with our healthcare costs more than me.

... This is the only industry where we find out how much something costs after the service is delivered. It defies common sense. It kills competition. ... We got to peel the onion off where all this money is going. The second thing is we've got to put patients and doctors back in charge. I just believe healthcare decisions should be made by families, patients, doctors, not by insurance companies, not by government bureaucrats. … The last thing is, innovation is going to be really important for us, for our future. We have an old, broken system of healthcare delivery that has grifted off the federal government way too long, and our taxpayers, and we've got to get our job creators, innovators going to not only reduce a lot of this bloat that's in our system, but also to help us deliver access to quality care no matter where your zip code is. … Up in Rabun County, women have to drive an hour away just to get prenatal checks. It just makes no sense. So there's a lot we can do, but again, this is a great example of failure of Congress. These issues have been sitting there for the last 20 years, and they continue to get worse, and nobody works together to solve them. These aren't bipartisan issues. They're not issues that you try to throw a band aid on before an election so you can win an election. It requires serious leadership whose No. 1 priority is the American people, and that's why we need to change some of these people out there.

Q: Do you support the Affordable Care Act or want to repeal it?

A: I'm for everybody getting affordable access to quality healthcare. ... What I'm not for is … people who are making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year getting subsidized by the federal government for their healthcare costs. We have to have an important safety net for those that need it. But again, … part of the problem is we're so focused on this issue, that issue, … you're lost in the trees, and you can't see the forest … And we need to look at the forest. We got a broken system with costs that are three times what they should be. And we need to all look at, how do we bring costs down in healthcare and be able to deliver it in an affordable way to everybody in the country?

Q: You mentioned your wife is an OB-GYN. What is your position on abortion laws, and should there be federal limits?

A: This is an issue that's very personal, obviously. It's divided our country for my whole life, and I agree with where President Trump and the Supreme Court are on this. I just think it should be an issue with the states. I think states are much closer to the people to know what they want, are also closer to where, if things change, they can move faster than the federal government. As a policymaker, as a U.S. senator, I just believe that the federal government needs to stay out of it, and I'll be supportive of not getting the federal government engaged on that deeply personal issue.

Q: The ruling law right now is the heartbeat bill. Do you support that in Georgia?

A: I'm for the states doing that. I have a tremendous respect for life. I also think that women should have a reasonable amount of time to make a very tough and personal decision, and that's been the law of the land for six years, and so as a federal U.S. senator, I wouldn't in any way intervene on that.

Q: What concrete immigration reforms do you support, and how would they differ from current policy?

A: …This has been another failure of Congress, ... over the years. But then what happened under the last administration, pouring the border wide open, letting millions come in ... that's what brought this issue to the forefront, and so I've been very supportive of keeping the border closed that President Trump has done. I'm very supportive of targeting criminal bad guys who are sowing a lot of discord in our community and getting them out. But Congress needs to, at some point, act. Like these executive orders to keep the border closed. At some point, we need to codify this. We've got to work together to solve this immigration issue for the long term health of the country. This should not be something where every four years, we're just going back and forth on what our policy is. ... I don't blame a lot of these presidents for trying to do something because Congress isn't doing their job.

Q: Should the U.S. continue to support and fund Ukraine in their war against Russia?

A: We're in a little conflict ourselves tying us down with Iran. … I know the president got a lot of criticism for sort of calling out NATO and saying, "You got to step up more. You got to pay more of your fair share." And right now, the fruits of that have been beneficial for us, because I think NATO has been very supportive of what's going on to try to prevent Russia from moving forward. We're dealing with our conflict in Iran, but it's just another example that you can't be the world leader by yourself. ... You need allies all over the world who are aligned with us to allow us to protect our freedoms, to protect economic prosperity and trade around the world, and that requires shared allies who can help not only with information intelligence, but using their bases and so NATO has been a very important ally for us over the years, and it should continue to.

Q: Do you support Trump's war on Iran? If a war powers resolution were before the Senate, would you vote for it? Why or why not?

A: … I remember like it was yesterday, ... when our embassy got stormed, I was watching it on TV as an 11-year-old, people in the streets burning the flag, "Death to America." And so for most of my life, ... these guys have been bad actors. So what I do support is, No. 1, pretty much what everybody supports, which is that they don't obtain a nuclear weapon. But I think the bigger thing that we should all be working together on is changing their behavior. … It's a unique adversary, because they have absolutely no respect for stability, and haven't for years. They have no respect for everybody's ability to search for economic prosperity. And I think if anything (good) has come out of it…, we've seen a little division in the Gulf states, where other Arab states have recognized that Iran is really a common enemy, a common enemy of us, a common enemy of Israel. And I think that's progress, because these guys are bad actors and they need to change their behavior now. I'm hopeful that the economic pressure we're putting on them now gets to that, certainly I think it's very important, as we're inching further and further along, that the federal government or the administration is communicating effectively with the leadership of Congress so that they understand what's the objective, what's our chance of success, what's our time frame, what's the risk. And it's Congress's job to stay involved, stay engaged and then they can make that decision on when we need to put the halt on.

Q: How do you change that behavior?

A: ...At some point when the economics kicks in. You can only go so long. You're not paying your military. People aren't going to be able to eat. We'll see where it takes us. ... The sad part of this is the people of Iran, I'm sure most of them don't want to live in this state. But there's also a reality,... how do you get the people to go change a regime when you got a Revolutionary Guard who's not afraid to execute anybody that protests? It's a very tricky thing and ... hopefully we can wear down Iran as much as possible to where they change behavior. … Another reality is we've got to give the people of Iran what they need to take over, and so we'll just see how it goes. I just think right now is not the time. ... And I know nobody wants to be in a prolonged war ... but as long as we're seeing progress, which I think we are economically, just think we have to keep going.

Q: What has Jon Ossoff done wrong in office, and what would you do differently?

A: I think Jon Ossoff doesn't reflect the values of what the bulk of the Georgia people want. ...He voted 98% for Joe Biden, he supported things that we're still dealing with now, whether it's this 40-year high inflation that he voted for three times to pump all this money irresponsibly into our economy. He supported the open borders policy - never said one word against it - as millions of people were coming into our country wreaking havoc. A lot of the woke stuff that he pushed on our kids, the men and women's sports, I just think there's a laundry list of things that demonstrate that he's only going to do what the party tells him to do. And on the flip side, there's not one thing that has happened in this new administration that he's been supportive of.

...To me, he represents everything that I think is wrong with D.C., where people who have never had a real job, … go to D.C. and their goal is to be a career politician, and the only way to do that is that you get these people that bankroll your elections, the party or whoever, and you do what they tell you to do. ... I don't believe he represents the Georgia people, and his voting record and his support, or lack of support,... reflect that. ... The key is to be able to educate the Georgia people on that, because one of the things that I found is beating him is not going to be easy, because he lies low. You don't see him grandstanding on CNN or with Chuck Schumer or AOC, and I believe that's strategic, because I think deep down, he knows this isn't what Georgia wants. It's going to be important to have a candidate who can stay on offense on his record, because he's going to take the war chest that he's building up, and he's hoping one of these two sitting congressmen get elected so he can go on full attack on their long voting record or divisive social media or House Ethics charge for misusing taxpayer funds to keep them on the defensive, and it doesn't put the spotlight back on Jon Ossoff. He can't do those things to me. I think it's really important that the Georgia people understand who he is. He says one thing in Georgia, he looks good, he lies low, but he does something completely different in D.C. that's not reflective of our state.

Q: But before you get to him, you've struggled to break through in polling. (An April AJC poll found U.S. Rep. Mike Collins had the most support at 21.6%, compared with 12.5% for U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter and 11% for Dooley). What's your plan to make the runoff?

A: I don't think we have struggled at all. I've seen a total swing in momentum over the last three, four weeks.

Q: How do you beat these two congressmen?

A: I'm a completely different candidate and I think this is what the voters want, and I think it's going to show that. The reality is, we've had over half the voters undecided in this election from the very beginning. The other reality is the governor's race ... there's hundreds of millions of dollars spent on it. It's drowned out the other races, so people are just now really getting engaged on our candidacy. Now, I've gone all around the state… We've had tremendous crowds. Gov. Kemp has been right there, and the first lady with me, and a lot of support. And I just believe this is what the Georgia people want. It's just a matter of getting my message out. Now, ... I wish I had $60 million like Rick Jackson, and I think it would be a lot easier, but we're doing it the old fashioned way. We just put a commercial out that's run two weeks now, there hadn't been any polling since that came out. … We're doing these the old fashioned way, county by county, voter by voter. And I just believe that that's going to be enough.

Q: But your Republican opponents, as you said, you think they'd be vulnerable to attacks if they advanced?

A: I think they're going to spend their entire time defending every voting record that they've had, defending divisive social media posts they put over the years that are going to turn off so many voters. Of course, Mike Collins has a House Ethics charge against him for misusing taxpayer funds. And Congress right now is at the all time low approval rating. I don't know how anybody can think that either one of those guys can beat Jon Ossoff because they can't. ... If you don't have a candidate who not only can stay on offense on him, but also bring some positive inspiration in the future of our country and how we're going to change what's going on in D.C., you're just not going to win.

Q: What does Brian Kemp's endorsement say about your candidacy, and where do you differ from him?

A: I'm not naive. I could have never gotten out of the gate without his support as a political outsider. ... You either have to have Rick Jackson money or somebody with some major credibility to allow yourself to get in front of people and spread your message. I've been very grateful for his and the first lady's support. He's doing it, I know this because he says it out there, truly because he wants to win. Before he and I even got engaged, when he decided he wasn't going to run, he felt a responsibility to try to get this seat back. And so he felt from day one that the two guys in the race couldn't win statewide, and so he wants to win, and that's why he's doing it. Now, ultimately, as great a support as he's been, that's not going to win me the election. I got to go convince the Georgia voters, and that's the support that I've been working toward every day since I came out back in August. And I think we're starting to see that. But it takes time.

Q: Do you support regulating AI?

A: We're in one of these moments in our country, probably one of the biggest inflection points we've had in years. ...On one hand, it's critical that we stay the leader in AI… The reality is it's here and it's not going anywhere. If we're not the leader in it, then we're running the risk of somebody who is not friendly to us becoming a leader with it, which could be a problem. ... At the same time, we have to make sure that we protect our kids, our young people, the truth. And I just believe that it's going to take a true collaboration of serious leaders in both the industry and government, because we can't leave everything up to the industry, who's driven by profit on everything, but we also sure as heck can't leave it up to the government, who's the master at putting their hands in something and screwing it up.

Q: There's some talk about doing away with the filibuster in the Republican party. Do you support that?

A: Every time I hear that, the first thing I think about it is, … how would we have liked it if Joe Biden in 2020, in the Democratic Senate and House, had eliminated it, besides the court getting packed and new states, there's things that could have done to our country that we couldn't roll back. And so I think we have to be real careful about it. … We need more unity, not more division. … Every four years, things change. I just think we have to be real careful about it

Q: How do you balance election security with ensuring all eligible voters can easily vote?

A: All I can speak on here is what went on in Georgia in 2021. Gov. Kemp, to his credit, passed what the Legislature passed, the Election Integrity Act, and as you remember, caught a ton of criticism nationally for it - Major League Baseball, Biden administration - and what was the result? We had more voter turnout than we ever had. Minorities were overwhelmingly favorable toward the process. Gov. Kemp won in ‘22, President Trump won in 2024 so I have a lot of confidence in our election system. That doesn't mean we don't stay vigilant,... but I believe that we should all be trustful of our system right now.

Q: Anything we haven't asked that you'd like voters to know?

A: Probably the biggest thing is this contract I put out, which is a one-pager, and what motivated me to do it was, as I was going around the state talking about my disappointment in leadership, so many people kept asking me, "How do we know you ain't gonna go up there and turn into the rest of them?" … All I knew to do is, … put something in writing here, maybe it's the lawyer in me, because it just means more. And it's really a pledge to the Georgia people of what's going to guide every decision I make, every vote I cast. And it's built on five things … One is, of course, where my loyalty is, it's going to be to the people of Georgia, not chasing headlines or elections. The second one is only serving two terms, fighting for term limits. The third one is not trading stocks, banning that stuff. Fourth one is not taking a check in a government shutdown. And then the last one is staying accountable to the people, which I've already promised 10 town halls (in my first term) to come answer to voters. So I just think that really shows people, foundationally, what I stand for and why I'm doing it. ... I really do believe in my heart that the more we can reform some ... basic human incentives up in D.C., the better those people will work for us.

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