By Megan Reed 

DCN Regional Staff

Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA 9th District) has announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate to fill the seat currently occupied by U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp.

Collins, a Republican, has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2013. He is the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee and serves on President Donald Trump’s impeachment team as a top defender of the president.

“We just need to have a process that lets people decide, lets them choose for themselves how they want to see this vision,” Collins said in his announcement on Fox News the morning of Wednesday, Jan. 29. “We fought for the president, we fought for the state and we fought for this country, and we’re going to continue to do that, and I look forward to the exchange of ideas, and I look forward to this election.”

Collins highlighted his work on criminal justice reform, including the First Step Act, and he said he hoped to bring conservative values to the Senate.

“Georgia is a state that is a wonderful state, that is growing, has a lot of new ideas and new people coming in, and they need to see the conservative values, the conservative values that actually believe in people, that actually come from being a state trooper’s kid and working as a pastor and being an Air Force chaplain,” Collins said.

Loeffler was appointed by Kemp to fill the seat as former U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson decided to retire at the end of 2019. Collins had applied online for the position and received the support of Trump to replace Isakson. Loeffler is also running to stay in the position.