Republicans in Georgia are locked in a bitter civil war revolving around the government shutdown and a critical primary race for a shot at unseating Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.

Though currently held by Ossoff, the Georgia Senate seat is considered highly competitive, with Republicans having a real chance of flipping the seat red in 2026. Ossoff won the seat in 2021 in a razor-thin runoff election, beating former Republican Sen. David Perdue by a margin of just 1.2%.

The race is considered highly critical for Republicans to protect their Senate majority. This, however, has not kept Republicans from jumping headlong into a bitter feud over the freshly ended government shutdown last week.

The controversy exploded when a political group aligned with Republican Gov. Brian Kemp released an attack ad criticizing Republican Reps. Mike Collins and Buddy Carter over the government shutdown and suggested “political outsider” Derek Dooley, a former Tennessee football coach, is needed to set things straight.

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The ad asked, “What do Mike Collins, Buddy Carter and Jon Ossoff have in common? They all failed and shut down the government.”

“It’s what happens when you send career politicians to D.C.,” the narrator states.

The ad garnered quick criticism from sections of the Georgia Republican Party as a betrayal of President Donald Trump’s and the GOP’s national messaging on the shutdown being Democrats’ fault.

Kemp, who is in the midst of his second term as governor, has endorsed Dooley in the primary race.

Collins took to X, writing, “I’m not sure why the governor’s nonprofit 501(c)(4) would be using dark money to attack Republican members of the Georgia delegation by parroting the anti-Trump Democrat lie that ‘Republicans are to blame for the shutdown.’”

“It’s not only contrary to the message from Speaker Johnson, Leader Thune and President Trump, but it’s also disconnected from reality,” wrote Collins.

He went on: “Myself and Buddy Carter have done our job, and passed a clean, nonpartisan Continuing Resolution that funds the government.”

A few days later, Collins’ campaign released a Veterans Day ad attacking Dooley for saying in an interview that he “probably went 20 years” without voting for a presidential candidate, including missing five opportunities to vote for Trump. The ad criticized Dooley for not voting while Georgia military service members “find a way to vote absentee.”

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Dooley in turn accused Collins of “using Veterans Day to score political points,” which he said, “tells you everything you need to know about typical politicians.”

He said that “like millions of others, I proudly got off the sidelines and voted for President Trump in 2024” and “unlike many career politicians in D.C., I’m focused on earning trust the right way: with honesty, humility, respect for all Georgians, and not accepting business as usual.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Carter spokesperson Harley Adsit called the ad a “desperate attempt” by Dooley “to save his failing campaign.”

Adsit accused Dooley of having “sold out to the radical left” and “pulling from Jon Ossoff’s playbook, attacking conservatives and turning his back on President Trump and Georgia’s hardworking families.”

“[Carter] proudly voted to keep the government open — it’s Dooley, Jon Ossoff, and the Democrats playing shutdown politics. Georgians deserve a MAGA warrior, not puppets trying to please the establishment elite,” she added.

Collins, meanwhile, told Fox News Digital: “Dooley is certainly an odd fellow.”

“He’s been gone from our state for 25 years and his first attempt at gainful employment upon return is to run for office, but what’s even odder is his campaign’s decision to attack congressional Republicans and run counter to President Trump’s messaging, and frankly the reality, that Democrats indeed caused the shutdown,” said Collins, adding, “I’m not sure if he and his team’s hatred for Trump is driving their strategy or if it’s just a genuine ignorance of what’s going on at the federal level, but it is certainly not a winning formula for next November.”

Meanwhile, in a statement to Fox News Digital, Dooley spokesman Connor Whitney framed him as the most viable candidate to flip the seat red by defeating Ossoff.

“Political outsider Derek Dooley has the clear momentum in this race. From fundraising to grassroots support to high-profile endorsements, it is clear there is only one candidate that can take on Jon Ossoff next November,” said Whitney.

He noted that Dooley himself has been “solely focused on blasting Jon Ossoff’s failed record and giving the people of Georgia a senator that actually represents their values,” adding, “that’s what he’ll continue to do when he’s the Republican nominee.”

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Whichever the outcome, the infighting spells trouble for Republicans.

A Georgia GOP strategist told Fox News Digital, “The party in general needs to unify and not have a messy primary.”

“Every day we have a primary fight is another day that Ossoff gets to vote the way that he did on the shutdown. It’s another day that he gets to stay out of the spotlight and we’re not hitting him,” the strategist said. “So, every day this goes on is a day that Jon Ossoff has won. And it just makes our jobs tougher come the summer when we finally have our nominee.”

The strategist said Dooley is “kind of running out of time,” adding that he needed to have significantly out-fundraised Collins and Carter to establish himself as a “legit candidate.”

The strategist said this exchange has demonstrated that Dooley “doesn’t understand” the dynamic of Trump’s Republican Party.

“In Trump’s Republican Party, you earn trust by fighting, not hiding on Election Day. You’ve got to show that you’re part of the movement,” the strategist said, adding, “So, Dooley is in a bad spot right now.”

Meanwhile, the strategist said, “Collins has a record, Collins has been elected before, Collins has stood with the president several times, he’s passed a significant bill through Congress.”

“So, what’s the argument for doing at that point? And if he doesn’t have the money to draw a message more than Collins can, then he doesn’t really stand much of a chance.”

However, Deborah Dooley, a Georgia Tea Party activist who is not related to the football coach-turned-politician, told Fox News Digital that “Derek Dooley is the only Republican with a credible path to victory in November” and “Collins, by contrast, brings liabilities that Democrats will aggressively weaponize.”

She did not back down from the ad’s shutdown messaging, saying, “The House members and senators should have stayed in D.C. without pay until they reached a deal.”

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“Jon Ossoff will be extremely difficult to unseat, and this race hinges entirely on electability,” she went on. “Democrats are already accusing Rep. Collins of racism and the GOP primary is not until next year. Republicans cannot afford to jeopardize another Senate seat.”

Observing all this from the outside, Georgia Democrats signaled they are bullish on their chances to hold the seat in November.

Devon Cruz, a spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia, told Fox News Digital, “Brian Kemp’s latest attempt to boost the failed and fired Derek Dooley further proves that Republicans are in for a long, nasty primary.”

“No matter who limps out of the primary, it’s been made very clear that the eventual nominee will be badly bruised and battered for a general election,” said Cruz.

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Kemp’s office responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment by referring to Fox News Digital to the governor’s political staff at Georgians First, Inc. The group did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Hardworking Georgians did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment by the time of publication.

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Raphael Warnock’s, D-Ga., re-election campaign has spent an eye-popping amount of cash on private security over nine months in 2025 despite a history of supporting stricter gun control measures.

Between January and September of this year, Warnock spent approximately $360,000 on security services from Executive Protection Agencies, LLC, an Atlanta-based security firm that includes both armed and unarmed options. Warnock’s office did not clarify what type of service he was paying the firm to provide. 

However, the security firm’s website says it uses its armed services to provide protection for “political figures.” A Fox News Digital review found that Warnock’s campaign has spent over $2.7 million on private security dating back to Dec. 2020.

Warnock has regularly pushed gun control in Congress, including co-sponsoring legislation to ban assault weapons and require universal background checks, voting for federal red flag laws, supporting stricter penalties for those who purchase firearms from sellers not legally allowed to do so and stricter licensing requirements for sellers, among other initiatives.

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Following a 2021 mass shooting in Atlanta that killed eight people across a handful of massage parlors in the city, Warnock criticized Republicans in his state’s legislature for a “distortion of values,” citing the GOP-controlled legislature’s decision to prioritize election integrity measures, which Warnock suggested make it harder for people to vote. 

“This shooter was able to kill all of these folks the same day he purchased a firearm, but right now what is our legislature doing? They’re busy under the golden dome here in Georgia trying to prevent people from voting the same day they register,” Warnock said on “Meet the Press” in 2021. “I think that suggests a distortion in values, when you can buy a gun and create this much carnage and violence on the same day but if you want to exercise your right to vote as a U.S. citizen, the same legislature that should be focusing on this is busy erecting barriers to that Constitutional right.”

Warnock’s anti-Second Amendment advocacy has dated back to at least 2013, according to the Washington Free Beacon. Warnock, a pastor before he was elected, has even taken advantage of his position at the pulpit to rail against those who support gun ownership. 

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Before his election, Warnock slammed “Stand Your Ground” laws during a 2014 sermon, which allow gun owners to protect themselves with deadly force, without first needing to make an attempt to retreat, if they feel their life could be in danger. The senator also used the pulpit prior to his election to be critical of pro-Second Amendment lawmakers who supported the Safe Carry Protection Act, which permitted concealed carry in churches, arguing Republicans were helping arm “crazy people.” 

Warnock, who has suggested he does not see arming teachers or school resource officers (SROs) as a solution to protect students from mass shootings, held a gun control panel with major city mayors and the former leader of the Biden administration’s deputy director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, Gregory Jackson, just a few weeks ago. 

Jackson, who has spent more than a decade as a gun control advocate for a number of organizations including groups within the George Soros-backed Tides Foundation network, was at the helm of the Biden administration’s efforts to beef up gun control measures around the country. 

“We have not done nearly enough. We have, in essence, told our children that, in the face of this ugly specter of mass shootings… the best thing we can do for you is teach you how to hide,” Senator Warnock said at the September gun control event. “What trauma are we visiting upon our children when we tell them the best thing we can do is to teach them how to hide? Not to mention the slow rolling crisis of mass shootings that happens in struggling urban communities, poor communities, Black and brown communities every single day. This is the worst kind of American exceptionalism. So I keep having this panel discussion because I know deep in my heart we are better than this.”

In addition to private security, Warnock’s campaign has spent thousands of dollars on limo services in 2025, specifically Washington, D.C.-based Carey Limousine, which says, “Understated Luxury is Our Style” on their website. The luxury car service continues by calling its services “Refined, discreet, and inviting—it’s the quiet confidence that welcomes every guest.” FEC filings reveal that Warnock’s campaign dished out over $3,000 to the car service this year.

Fox News Digital reached out to Warnock’s office and campaign multiple times for comment on this story but did not receive a response.

A startling online trend is making a resurgence among teenagers who could face deadly consequences as they terrorize homeowners in a viral prank, police around the country warn.

Home surveillance footage shows a group of masked California youngsters partaking in the “Door Kick Challenge,” where pranksters run up to a stranger’s home and kick the front door as hard as they can before rushing away, according to the Elk Grove Police Department. 

The community of Elk Grove – located roughly 15 miles from Sacramento – has seen at least eight reported incidents and five arrests over the past month, CBS News Sacramento reported. 

Last week, two 13-year-olds were arrested after allegedly causing more than $680 in damage to a homeowner’s front door, according to authorities. Additionally, three juveniles were taken into custody earlier this month for their alleged involvement in the prank.

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Another incident left a homeowner with $900 worth of damage to their doorframe, the outlet reported. Any crime exceeding $950 in damages could reportedly result in felony charges, with parents on the hook for paying the cost of their child’s actions. 

“Somebody could come out with a gun, and you could never know, these kids could be dead just for a stupid prank,” Ronnie Monroe told CBS13. 

Monroe reportedly had his garage door kicked in by pranksters in two separate incidents in September, with both pranks taking place in the early morning hours.

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“You can’t catch them if you can’t see them,” Monroe told the outlet. “They get on electric bikes, and they are gone.” 

The Elk Grove Police Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

The trend has been popping up in various cities around the country as it regains traction among teens. 

On July 22, a Florida teenager was caught on camera kicking the front door of a Belleville home, FOX35 reported. The incident resulted in roughly $500 worth of damage to the homeowner’s doorframe, which was reportedly split down the middle.

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One week earlier, homeowner Kevin Jasper reported being targeted by a lone teenager partaking in the prank, according to FOX35. 

“We heard a big bang on the front door,” Jasper told the outlet. “We didn’t know what it was. We were like, ‘What the heck is going on, is somebody trying to break in?’”

Additionally, two teenagers in Volusia County were arrested and charged with felonies after they were caught on camera kicking a neighbor’s door. 

Another incident earlier this year involved five juveniles allegedly kicking the front door of a Florida home before firing an Airsoft gun and fleeing the area, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. 

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While teens may believe the prank is harmless, authorities are warning their actions come with grave risks. 

“Imagine being in your home at 2 in the morning, and you are getting these kicking sounds,” Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood told FOX35. “And in Florida, under the ‘stand your ground’ [law] you are coming out with your gun. Somebody is going to get killed – this isn’t funny.”

Fox News Digital’s Adam Sabes contributed to this report.