ATLANTA (AP) — Days before the U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia, President Donald Trump has endorsed U.S. Rep. Mike Collins over former football coach Derek Dooley, putting his stamp of approval on another loyalist who some conservatives believe could be a risky bet in November.

The Republican candidates are competing Tuesday for the chance to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in one of the most closely watched campaigns in the November midterm elections. Collins has positioned himself as a stalwart ally of Trump and his “Make America Great Again” movement, and the president said in his announcement early Sunday on social media that the trucking company owner and second-term congressman “has been with me from the very beginning” and is a ”true friend, fighter, and WARRIOR.”

Dooley, a political newcomer, is backed by outgoing Gov. Brian Kemp, who has clashed with Trump in the past. “I don’t know Derek Dooley, and neither does anyone else, but he seems like a nice person,” Trump wrote, while noting that Dooley did not vote in 2016 or 2020, when Trump was on the ballot. Dooley has acknowledged going nearly two decades without voting but says he did vote for Trump in 2024.

Collins led Dooley in the May 19 primary but neither surpassed 40%, leaving many Republican votes up for grabs. Trump’s endorsement has proved powerful as he shapes a party identity that is increasingly indistinguishable from his own.

“Everybody knows that I do best with the MAGA base,” Collins said on primary night. “It’s because they know I’ve always been with President Trump.”

Still, the president’s choice puts him at odds with more traditional Republicans, including Kemp. The endorsement is reminiscent of Trump’s decision to back Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton before his victory over U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in the state’s recent primary runoff.

Dooley responded to Trump’s decision by saying Georgia voters want “a political outsider” rather than “typical D.C. politicians like Mike Collins.” In an X post, Dooley expressed confidence that he would win.

Collins has embraced Trump since his first campaign for Congress in 2022, and he has echoed the president’s false claims that his 2020 defeat to Democrat Joe Biden was fraudulent. Collins sponsored the Laken Riley Act, a 2025 law that requires immigrants be detained when charged with certain crimes. Republicans believe the issue damages Ossoff because he initially voted against the measure before supporting it after Trump returned to the White House.

Dooley — and Kemp as his top surrogate — argue that a first-time candidate has a better shot to defeat Ossoff, the only Democratic senator facing voters in a state Trump carried in 2024.

Kemp, who once drew Trump’s ire for refusing to help overturn Biden’s victory, was the top choice of Senate Republican leaders looking for an Ossoff challenger. Kemp recruited Dooley, a childhood friend, to run instead.

The governor points to a trio of first-term Republican senators — Montana’s Tim Sheehy, Pennsylvania’s Dave McCormick and Ohio’s Bernie Moreno — who defeated Democratic incumbents in 2024 running as outsiders who still aligned with the president.

Dooley’s argument is matched against Trump’s winning streak inside the party. In a matter of weeks, Trump has celebrated victories over Republicans who did not pass his test of loyalty.

Cornyn lost to Paxton, U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky lost to Ed Gallrein, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana failed to make a runoff and several Indiana state senators were defeated by challengers.

Dooley has told voters he will “work with President Trump but fight for you.” He also emphasizes that Republicans have not won a U.S. Senate race in Georgia since 2016.

Collins walks no such tightrope, and he still insists that he can have wider appeal in the fall.

“You don’t beat Jon Ossoff by having no record,” he said. “You win by having a record of results.”

Reporting assignments can often lead to unexpected joys and lessons. That was the case when NPR’s Natalie Escobar and Ava Berger were sent on the road to tag along with three teenage boys competing in the World Series of Birding. The teens had 24 hours to crisscross New Jersey and tally up the number of bird species they spotted. For this week’s Reporter’s Notebook we hear from Escobar and Berger about how the assignment was both challenging and illuminating.

A Kennedy Center official told a federal judge Saturday that all references to President Donald Trump inside, outside and online have been removed from the Kennedy Center, in compliance with the court’s extended order requiring their removal by noon.

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Construction workers began removing Trump’s name from the building’s facade early Saturday morning, six months after a board handpicked by the president voted to rebrand the iconic performing arts venue by adding his name to it.

Crews removed lettering on the building, added in December, that inserted Trump’s name before “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.”

Several dozen attendees gathered and cheered on the workers who prepared to take the president’s name off of the building.

A federal judge ruled last month that Trump’s name must be removed by June 12, writing that the center’s board did not have the authority to unilaterally rename the building.

“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper wrote on May 29.

Late Friday night, the Justice Department sought a 12-hour delay to illustrate its compliance with the court order, blaming thunderstorms for the delay.

“The removal work is presently ongoing, and Defendants expect it will conclude in the early hours of the morning of June 13, 2026,” DOJ lawyers wrote.

Trump first raised the prospect of adding his name to the Kennedy Center in a Truth Social post last August.

In a last-ditch effort to halt the judge’s order, the Kennedy Center sought to block it late Thursday. The judge denied that request Friday, hours before the deadline for removing Trump’s name.

In a filing to a federal appeals court seeking to block the judge’s order, the center argued for the first time that taking Trump’s name off the building would result in having to return hundreds of millions of dollars that the center has raised for renovations due to a previously unannounced change to the center’s bylaws.

“All of this money, hundreds of millions of dollars, will have to be immediately returned, or not received by the Center,” the filing said.

The filing said the “reason for this clause is that people and companies, who have given, or will be giving, millions of dollars to the Center were only willing to do so with the name ‘Trump’ on the Building.”

It does not say how, when or where the change was made to the center’s bylaws. The Kennedy Center did not respond to inquiries about when the changes were made and exactly how much money might be at risk.

The appeals court on Friday night denied the Kennedy Center’s request for a pause.

Lawyers for the ex officio board member who filed the suit, Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, told the appeals court in a filing that the center’s argument was “meritless” since the funding issue was never raised in the lower court.

In a statement Saturday morning, Beatty called the removal of Trump’s name a “victory,” saying: “Today’s victory is the beginning of returning the Kennedy Center to the American people. The rule of law prevailed, and that is worth celebrating. Let this send a message across the country: when we stand up, fight back, and defend our democracy, we can win. This is just the beginning.”

Lawyers for the Kennedy Center directed staff last week to remove Trump’s name from all official signage in the building to comply with the judge’s May 29 order. Trump’s name was no longer visible on the center’s website as of Monday, with the site reverting back to its prior “Kennedy Center” branding.

The May ruling also blocked a planned two-year closure of the center sought by Trump’s board to undertake renovations. The judge called those plans an “ill-informed and seemingly preordained decision.”