SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — Three Republican candidates and one write-in candidate in Georgia’s U.S. senate race made a stop in Coastal Georgia on Wednesday, campaigning to Georgia voters ahead of the primary.

The Chatham Area Republican Women hosted a luncheon featuring U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter (R-1) Mike Collins (R-10), along with Brigadier General Jonathan McColumn and write-in candidate Rev. Dr. Christina Clements.

Rep. Buddy Carter

Carter opened the event by highlighting his record in Congress, pointing to his role in passing The Working Families Tax Cut Act and efforts to lower healthcare and prescription drugs costs.

“I will never embarrass you,” said Carter. “I haven’t embarrassed you in the 26 years I’ve been in public service.”

He also addressed the partial government shutdown, emphasizing national security concerns.

“Right now, more than ever, I would submit to you that we need funding for Department of Homeland Security,” said Carter. “We’re involved in a conflict in Iran right now. Our terror alert is up.”

Rep. Mike Collins

Collin’s focused on infrastructure improvements across the Coastal Empire, including funding tied to Georgia’s ports.

“That port hadn’t been dredged fully since 2015,” said Collins. “Then I came up here to Savannah, and it wasn’t three weeks later that the Army Corps changed their mind. And we got 35 million for Brunswick Port, and we got the money to study the widening of the Savannah port. That’s how you deliver for the state of Georgia.”

He also highlighted his support for the Laken Riley Act, opposition to defunding the police and plans to support veterans if elected.

“Our veterans out there need help,” said Collins. “We’ve got homeless vets living under bridges. And here we have an administration that will hold and transport, feed and housing these illegals.”

Christina Clement

Clement, President of Black USA and President of the State of Loc Nation Global Public Benefit Corporation, centered her remarks on economic stability, promoting what she called the “Black Dollar Initiative.”

“We should at least have the basics,” said Clements. “This was a summary of what the majority of citizens who felt unrepresented shared with me while listening to their concerns.”

Jonathan McColumn

McColumn pushed his military leadership experience, emphasizing the importance of that experience for Georgia.

“Fort Stewart, Army Airfield, who’s going to negotiate for them because you don’t have anyone right now in the senate who understands this. We need someone who understands the infrastructure, the priorities, the missions.”

He tied that experience to his stance on federal leadership and the ongoing shutdown.

“If we had an executive leader that was a senator today, the Homeland Security would have been funded,” said McColumn. “When you haven’t led anything or you haven’t been responsible for anybody, then you can’t understand that. When you make $187,000 a year, people working for TSA making approximately $50,000 a year, you can’t see that you’re harming those people. That’s a failure of leadership.”

The Georgia Primary race is set for May 19, when voters decide who will face incumbent Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) in the general election.

This Sentell’s Intel rep on Georgia football recruiting shares an overview of what recruits have told DawgNation about spring practice so far this month.

Recruits can get a 5-star ranking. That’s the same set of evaluation criteria that was often used for hotels, movie reviews and restaurants, among other things.

When it came to the big screen, the 5-star ranking for a movie was reserved for the elite. Those were the masterpieces.

That’s a convenient connection here with what DawgNation has heard from the elite recruits who have visited Georgia football practices so far this month.

They are very much like a focus group invited in for a private screening of the 2026 Georgia football team.

While DawgNation has to wait for G-Day to get their first looks, several prospects have now seen UGA for multiple practices, including back-to-back sessions. Not even Magill Society members have seen that much of the Dawgs.

What are they saying? What were their movie reviews? Here’s a listing of several breakout quotes we’ve heard so far.

We were listening for the stuff that would have been at the top of all those movie theatres at the Cineplex.

The program culture at the UGA “Pro Day” workout

“That was the underlying thing you saw today. All the other Dawgs that have already been able to succeed, then want to see the next ones go.”

— 3-star OT commit Ty Johnson (Mount Pleasant, SC)

Does the physicality of spring practice at UGA stand out?

“100 percent. I feel like Georgia is just different. The way they run stuff. The aggression they play with. The tempo they play with. I feel like all of that leads up to the game. I think a cool thing Coach Smart does, and he really emphasized it, is giving everyone reps. Giving freshmen reps. Giving a fifth-year senior reps. He’s a big big coach on just getting people reps.”

“I think that’s a big reason why Georgia develops so well because they play everyone. You can’t get better if you’re on the sideline watching and I think that’s why Georgia emphasizes getting people on the field. That’s why they’ve been so successful over the past couple of years.”

— 4-star OL Jimmy Kalis (Pittsburgh, Pa.)

“Georgia’s practice is like no other I’ve seen. They were hitting like they had pads on and they didn’t have any pads on. That’s just straight development at its finest.”

— 3-star IOL Elijah Morrison (Dacula, Ga.)

“I watched a kid on a one-on-one rep. I saw one of their O-lineman slam the D-lineman to the ground and I was like ‘I want some of that’ and ‘I want some of that work’ because it was crazy to see.”

— 4-star DL Karlos May (Birmingham, Ala.)

“I want to play for a team that physical. I’ve never seen a team practice that physical. It looked like a gameday. Like a rivalry game. Georgia is the most physical team in the country.”

— 4-star DL Marvin Nguetsop (Oakdale, Conn.)

The meetings have also stood out to recruits

“Man, just the meeting itself did it for me, honestly. You are ready to go for our spring ball. Very high energy over there. Tight-knit group. Everybody’s like family there, so it’s very fun to be there at practices and watch them go throughout the day and it’s very exciting when you watch them practice and hit. I was there for the first day with full pads on, so you know the energy was there.”

— 4-star LB Jalaythan “JJ” Mayfield (Lincolnton, NC)

“We sat in a pretty long meeting. I took an entire notebook full of pages and I filled the entire thing up. It was actually pretty cool. Coach Smart, he looked at my notebook and he was really impressed with my note-taking skills. So that was a pretty cool memory, too.”

— 4-star OT Jimmy Kalis (Pittsburg, Pa.)

Junior OT Jah Jackson has attracted a lot of attention

“Jah Jackson is probably the tallest tackle I’ve seen. He’s 6-foot-11 and probably seven feet with cleats on.”

— 4-star OL Jimmy Kalis (Pittsburgh, Pa.)

“He’s a big dude to watch. For sure. He’s definitely exciting to watch on both sides. The left side and the right side. He’s definitely a top guy. For sure.”

— Class of 2029 OT Landon Ghea

“Jah is a leader in my eyes. That’s what I see right now. I feel like he’s figured it out.”

— 3-star IOL Elijah Morrison (Dacula, Ga.)

“The kid’s name was Jah, I think. Man was huge. I’ve never. He is humongous. I couldn’t believe it when I first saw him, I was like ‘Damn’ for real.”

— 4-star WR Khalil Taylor (Pittsburgh, Pa.)

What Kirby Smart adds to every UGA practice visit

“There’s just a standard that everybody is held to. Coach Smart was on the microphone. Just pointing out everybody’s mistakes. Just making sure everybody is locked in.”

— Class of 2029 OT Landon Ghea (Milton, Ga.)

“He was just telling me you’ve got to be ready to come here and play. Like I can’t be weak. He’s going to test me mentally and physically and just to be ready. It makes me want to turn up even more. I love being coached hard. It lets me know that he wants me to be great.”

— 4-star WR Sean Green (Kingsland, Ga.)

“He’s a very genuine guy and you can tell that he’s got a real sense of that he’s going to win. I think that’s definitely something that he and I both see eye-to-eye on. We both value winning. He clearly values winning and he does it at a high level.”

— 4-star IOL Carter Jones (Poquoson, Va.)

“A Georgia practice is different. It definitely is. The energy level is way higher. When Kirby gets on that microphone, it just changes something in the atmosphere and there aren’t many places that do that. There are some coaches that try to replicate that, but they don’t do it at the level that he does.”

–4-star LB Jalaythan “JJ” Mayfield (Lincolnton, NC)

Do they look elite?

“I can just see why Georgia is just so elite in what they do. They take a pro approach to everything. They are very serious about what they do. They are passionate about the way they do it. Georgia is going to have a great year.”

— 4-star OL Jimmy Kalis (Pittsburgh, Pa.)

“I feel like it is a factory for the NFL. Their pipeline is and that’s what the end goal is for every athlete of my caliber. So why wouldn’t you check out a place like Georgia?

— 4-star LB Jalaythan “JJ” Mayfield (Lincolnton, NC)

“When I think of Georgia, I just think of relentlessness. Just the way they play. The whole team. It’s not like they got a couple of dudes on there that are Dawgs. Like, literally the whole team is Dawgs. They all want to win and pretty much every single year they’re in the running for a national championship.”

–4-star LB Kenneth Simon II (Brentwood, Tenn.)

“Georgia is different. Like, SEC ball is different. They’re very aggressive, and with the attention to detail, they are very focused. is like you can definitely tell the difference between the Big Ten and the ACC and the different conferences and stuff like that. They’re huge. They’re very aggressive, and with the attention to detail, they are very focused. They’re on their ‘Ps’ and ‘Qs,’ and they know what they’re doing. Everything down there was just great.

— 4-star WR Khalil Taylor (Pittsburgh, Pa.)

2026 breakouts: The names we’ve heard that have impressed the recruits so far this spring

Have you subscribed to the DawgNation YouTube channel? If so, you will see special 1-on-1 content with key 2027 recruits like Chance Gilbert, KJ Jackson, Kemon Spell and Donte’ Wright.

Check out this week’s “Before the Hedges” weekly Georgia football recruiting special on YouTube below