Reeves backs Dooley, cites family focus in Suwanee-area district

Derek Dooley added a local Republican endorsement with direct suburban reach as state Rep. Matt Reeves, who represents Suwanee, Sugar Hill and Duluth, lined up behind the first-time Senate candidate and former Tennessee head coach.

Reeves’ backing matters well beyond Gwinnett County lines. House District 99 sits in a fast-growing corner of metro Atlanta, and Georgia Votes lists 43,941 registered voters there. That makes Reeves a useful signal for Republicans trying to shore up support in the kind of suburban communities that can shape statewide races, including the one Dooley is now running in against Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff.

Reeves brings his own local profile to the endorsement. He serves as vice chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and sits on the House Majority Caucus Whip Team. He lives in Duluth with his wife, Suzette, and their three teenage children, and he has represented the district since Jan. 9, 2023. A 2026 district profile showed how narrow the political ground can be in that part of Gwinnett: Reeves won reelection in 2024 by just 621 votes over Democrat Michelle Kang.

Dooley’s campaign has been trying to consolidate Republican support around a candidate with no previous political record. Gov. Brian Kemp endorsed Dooley on Aug. 30, 2025, calling him a political outsider, and Reeves’ endorsement extends that effort into a district where suburban voters have shown they can move quickly and vote narrowly. Other major Republicans remain in the race, including Reps. Mike Collins and Buddy Carter.

The primary is set for May 19, 2026, with a runoff on June 16 if no candidate wins a majority. That schedule leaves little time for Dooley to lock down the party’s establishment wing and persuade voters in districts like Reeves’ that his outsider pitch can translate into votes in a crowded field.

For Forsyth County readers, the endorsement is another reminder that the Republican path to a Senate nomination is being built not just on party labels, but on neighborhood-level support in the suburban corridors north and northeast of Atlanta, where growth, school pressure, traffic and taxes often shape the political conversation. Reeves’ decision puts his district, and the voters who live there, squarely into that fight.