By JEFF AMY, Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — Former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley on Monday announced his 2026 Republican bid for the U.S. Senate in Georgia against Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff.

The 57-year-old Dooley is backed by Gov. Brian Kemp and has been teasing a bid since June. He joins a GOP field that includes U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, as well as activist Reagan Box.

Kemp turned to Dooley after deciding not to run for the seat himself. Georgia Republicans are looking to topple Ossoff, considered the Senate’s most vulnerable Democratic incumbent seeking reelection next year.

“Professional politicians like Jon Ossoff are the problem,” Dooley said in a two-minute launch video “Lawlessness, open season on the border, inflation everywhere, woke stuff, that’s what they represent. We need new leadership in Georgia. That’s why I’m running for Senate.”

FILE – Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley walks the sideline in the fourth quarter of an NCAA college football game against Vanderbilt on Nov. 18, 2012, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

Kemp and Trump met and said they would try to agree on a preferred candidate. Anyone anointed by both would be stamped as the Republican front-runner. Kemp told Collins and others on July 24 that he would support Dooley, leading Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King to drop out of the race. But Trump isn’t ready to endorse yet and Dooley is moving forward without Trump’s blessing, an indication the joint effort may be faltering.

Dooley has never held elective office before. He says he’ll run as a political outsider, a lane David Perdue traveled in Georgia to win election to the Senate in 2014. Dooley said he would bring “good, old fashioned Georgia common sense,” and “work with President Trump, fight for you and always put Georgia first.”

Dooley is the son of legendary University of Georgia coach Vince Dooley and was a lawyer before he went into coaching. Derek Dooley was widely seen as a failure during his three years as head coach at Tennessee, compiling a 15-21 record with the Volunteers before he was fired in 2012. Since then, he has been an assistant coach with the Dallas Cowboys, the University of Missouri, the New York Giants and the University of Alabama.

As a teenager, Kemp was a frequent guest in the Dooley home, and he roomed with Derek’s older brother, Daniel Dooley, at the University of Georgia. Kemp has the most effective Republican political organization in Georgia, and Dooley has hired Kemp aides to run his race, including political strategist Cody Hall and fundraiser Chelsey Ruppersburg.

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But a number of Republicans endorsed Collins after he entered the field last week, including former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Also backing the congressman are state senators including state Senate Majority Leader Jason Anavitarte. Even one of Kemp’s official floor leaders in the state House, Rep. Matthew Gambill, parted ways with the governor to endorse Collins.

Opponents have already lampooned Dooley for failing to publicly support Trump before now. Someone launched an anonymous University of Tennessee-themed website called “Dooley’s Volunteers” that criticizes Dooley for a lack of conservative credentials, interspersed with quotes from sports reporters panning Dooley’s coaching tenure.

It’s the latest high impact move to back a political novice for Kemp, who tapped Kelly Loeffler as a U.S. senator before she lost to Democrat Raphael Warnock in a 2021 runoff. Her campaign was plagued by conflict between Kemp and Trump, who preferred another candidate. Losses by Perdue and Loeffler to Ossoff and Warnock, respectively, handed control of the U.S. Senate to Democrats.

Then in 2022, Trump anointed Georgia football legend Herschel Walker as the Republican nominee. Walker’s candidacy proved flawed and Kemp only swung in to help in the runoff, which Warnock won.

Their effort to jointly screen 2026 candidates produced some results — U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene declined a Senate run after pressure from other Republicans.

Dooley would be far from the first football coach to run for office. His late father was frequently discussed as a possible candidate and his mother, Barbara Dooley, lost a Republican primary for Congress in 2002. Former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville was elected to the Senate in 2020 from Alabama and is now running for governor. University of Nebraska coaching legend Tom Osborne served three terms in the U.S. House.

Dooley walked on at the University of Virginia and earned a scholarship as a wide receiver. He earned a law degree from the University of Georgia and briefly practiced law in Atlanta before working his way up the college coaching ladder, becoming head coach for three years at Louisiana Tech before Tennessee.

By CORA LEWIS and LINLEY SANDERS, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The vast majority of U.S. adults are at least somewhat stressed about the cost of groceries, a new poll finds, as prices continue to rise and concerns about the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs remain widespread.

About half of all Americans say the cost of groceries is a “major” source of stress in their life right now, while 33% say it’s a “minor” source of stress, according to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Only 14% say it’s not a source of stress, underscoring the pervasive anxiety most Americans continue to feel about the cost of everyday essentials.

Other financial stressors — like the cost of housing or the amount of money in their bank accounts — are also broadly felt, but they weigh more heavily on younger Americans, who are less likely than older adults to have significant savings or own property.

The survey also found that about 4 in 10 Americans under age 45 say they’ve used what are known as “buy now, pay later” services when spending on entertainment or restaurant meals or when paying for essentials like groceries or medical care.

Adam Bush, 19, based in Portland, New York, is one of those younger Americans who has used pay-later services for things like groceries or entertainment. Bush works as a welder, fabricating parts for trucks for Toyota, and makes under $50,000 per year.

“I just keep watching the prices go up, so I’m looking for the cheapest possible stuff,” he said. “Hot pockets and TV dinners.”

Everyone is stressed about groceries

Groceries are one of the most far-reaching financial stressors, affecting the young and old alike, the poll finds. While Americans over age 60 are less likely than younger people to feel major financial anxiety about housing, their savings, child care, or credit card debt, they are just as worried about the cost of groceries.

FILE – A customer shops at a grocery store in Glenview, Ill., July 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

Esther Bland, 78, who lives in Buckley, Washington, said groceries are a “minor” source of stress — but only because her local food banks fill the gap. Bland relies on her Social Security and disability payments each month to cover her rent and other expenses — such as veterinary care for her dogs — in retirement, after decades working in an office processing product orders.

“I have no savings,” she said. “I’m not sure what’s going on politically when it comes to the food banks, but if I lost that, groceries would absolutely be a major source of stress.”

Bland’s monthly income mainly goes toward her electric, water and cable bills, she said, as well as care of her dogs and other household needs.

“Soap, paper towels, toilet paper. I buy gas at Costco, but we haven’t seen $3 a gallon here in a long time,” she said. “I stay home a lot. I only put about 50 miles on my car a week.”

According to the poll, 64% of the lowest-income Americans — those who have a household income of less than $30,000 a year — say the cost of groceries is a “major” stressor. That’s compared with about 4 in 10 Americans who have a household income of $100,000 or more.

But even within that higher-income group, only about 2 in 10 say grocery costs aren’t a worry at all.

Women and Hispanic adults are especially economically anxious

Housing is another substantial source of worry for U.S. adults — along with their savings, their income and the cost of health care. About half of U.S. adults say housing is a “major” source of stress, according to the poll, while about 4 in 10 say that about the amount of money they get paid, the amount of money they have saved and the cost of health care.

About 3 in 10 say credit card debt is a “major” source of stress, while about 2 in 10 say that about the cost of child care and student debt.

But some groups are feeling much more anxiety about their finances than others. Women, for instance, are more likely than men to report high levels of stress about their income, savings, the cost of groceries and the cost of health care. Hispanic adults are also particularly concerned about housing costs and both credit card and student debt. About two-thirds of Hispanic adults say the cost of housing is a “major” source of stress, compared with about half of Black adults and about 4 in 10 white adults.

Some people are making changes to their lifestyle as a result of high costs. Shandal LeSure, 43, who works as a receptionist for a rehabilitation hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and makes between $85,000 and $100,000 a year, said she’s started shopping for groceries at less expensive stores.

“It’s an adjustment,” she said. “Sometimes the quality isn’t as good.”

Many US adults have used ‘buy now, pay later’ services

As they stretch limited budgets, about 3 in 10 U.S. adults overall say they’ve used “buy now, pay later” services such as Afterpay or Klarna to purchase groceries, entertainment, restaurant meals or meal delivery, or medical or dental care, according to the poll.

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Bland, the Washington state retiree, said she’s paid for pet surgery with a pay-later plan.

Younger Americans are much likelier than older people to have used pay-later plans for entertainment, groceries or restaurant meals, but there’s no age gap on medical care. Black and Hispanic people are also especially likely to adopt the plans.

An increasing share of “buy now, pay later” customers are having trouble repaying their loans, according to recent disclosures from the lenders. The loans are marketed as a safer alternative to traditional credit cards, but there are risks, including a lack of federal oversight. Some consumer watchdogs also say the plans lead consumers to overextend themselves financially.

LeSure said she’s used pay-later services for things like new clothes, while she balances debt payments for a car loan, student loans and medical bills. She’s also turned to them to cover hotel costs after being evicted.

“That’s been able to help me stretch my dollar,” she said.

The AP-NORC poll of 1,437 adults was conducted July 10-14, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

Sanders reported from Washington.

The Associated Press receives support from the Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN, Associated Press Business Writer

Tesla is awarding CEO Elon Musk 96 million shares of restricted stock valued at approximately $29 billion, just six months after a judge ordered the company to revoke his massive pay package.

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The electric vehicle maker said in a regulatory filing on Monday that Musk must first pay Tesla $23.34 per share of restricted stock that vests, which is equal to the exercise price per share of the 2018 pay package that was awarded to the company’s CEO.

In December Delaware Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick reaffirmed her earlier ruling that Tesla must revoke Musk’s multibillion-dollar pay package. She found that Musk engineered the landmark pay package in sham negotiations with directors who were not independent.

At the time McCormick also rejected an equally unprecedented and massive fee request by plaintiff attorneys, who argued that they were entitled to legal fees in the form of Tesla stock valued at more than $5 billion. The judge said the attorneys were entitled to a fee award of $345 million.

The rulings came in a lawsuit filed by a Tesla stockholder who challenged Musk’s 2018 compensation package.

That pay package carried a potential maximum value of about $56 billion, but that sum has fluctuated over the years based on Tesla’s stock price.

Musk appealed the order in March. A month later Tesla said in a regulatory filing that it was creating a special committee to look at Musk’s compensation as CEO.

Though there have been ups and downs for young quarterback J.J. McCarthy throughout training camp at TCO Performance Center, he’s already done enough to prove himself as the unquestioned starter.

The biggest question that needs to be answered this week is whether McCarthy will play in the preseason game between the Vikings and the Houston Texans on Saturday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium.

A couple of series would likely be all the Vikings need to see out of McCarthy as he continues his progression under center.

As for the rest of the roster, the Vikings are using training camp to figure out where everybody stands, and will use the preseason contests to make final decisions when it comes to who’s in and who’s out.

Here’s our first 53-man roster projection:

Quarterback (3)

In: J.J. McCarthy, Sam Howell, Max Brosmer

Out: Brett Rypien

Analysis: Everything outside of McCarthy is still in flux. It’s been a rather underwhelming training camp for Howell to this point. His spot on the roster seems safe, however, until his replacement is brought in. The reason Brosmer makes the team is because it might be hard to sneak him onto the practice squad. As for Rypien, he will be a prime candidate for the practice squad.

Running Back (3)

In: Aaron Jones, Jordan Mason, Ty Chandler

Out: Zavier Scott, Tre Stewart

Analysis: The backfield will be led by Jones and Mason and everybody else will have to get in where they fit in. The most redeeming quality about Chandler right now might be his ability on special teams. That should help Chandler win over Scott and Stewart.

Fullback (1)

In: C.J. Ham

Out: N/A

Analysis: The only player that Ham is competing with is himself. He’s going to make the team.

Receiver (6)

In: Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Jalen Nailor, Tai Felton, Rondale Moore, Lucky Jackson

Out: Jeshaun Jones, Thayer Thomas, Tim Jones, Dontae Fleming,  Myles Price, Robert Lewis

Analysis: There are seemingly a couple of spots up for grabs after Jefferson, Addison, Nailor, and Felton. The nod goes to Moore because of his abilities as a punt returner and Jackson because of his strong training camp.

Tight End (3)

In: T.J. Hockenson, Josh Oliver, Ben Yurosek

Out: Gavin Bartholomew, Giovanni Ricci, Bryson Nesbit,

Analysis: After getting drafted in the spring, Bartholomew might get cut in the summer. He’s been on the physically unable to perform list throughout training camp. You can’t make the club in the tub. That opens the door for Yurosek. He’s been on a steady climb over the past couple of weeks and recently got some reps with the starters.

Offensive Line (9)

In: Christian Darrisaw (LT), Donovan Jackson (LG), Ryan Kelly (C), Will Fries (RG), Brian O’Neill (RT), Justin Skule (OT), Walter Rouse (OT), Blake Brandel (OG), Michael Jurgens (C)

Out: Logan Brown (OT), Matt Nelson (OT) Marcellus Johnson (OT), Leroy Watson IV (OT), Joe Huber (OG), Henry Byrd (OG), Vershon Lee (OG), Zeke Correll (C)

Analysis: The starting offensive line is set in stone, as is most of the backup offensive line. There are a handful of players that could challenge for a spot on the roster depending on how the preseason goes.

Defensive Line (6)

In: Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave, Harrison Phillips, Jalen Redmond, Levi Drake Rodriguez, Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins

Out: Taki Taimani, Jonathan Harris, Travis Bell, Elijah Williams

Analysis: There’s no doubt that Allen and Hargrave are a massive upgrade in the trenches alongside Phillips. That has been on display throughout training camp. The rest of the defensive line is made up of rotational pieces that can be subbed in and out depending on personnel.

Edge Rusher (5)

In: Jonathan Greenard, Andrew Van Ginkel, Dallas Turner, Bo Richter, Gabe Murphy

Out: Tyler Batty, Chaz Chambliss

Analysis: You’d be hard pressed to find a player who has been more impressive than Turner in training camp. He looks like a beast out there wherever he’s lining up on the field. There isn’t any room for either of the undrafted free agents.

Linebacker (4)

In: Blake Cashman, Ivan Pace Jr., Eric Wilson, Kobe King

Out:  Brian Asamoah, Austin Keys, Dorian Mausi

Analysis: The writing has been on the wall for Asamoah ever since King was drafted. They are likely competing for the same spot on the roster. The edge goes to the rookie until further notice.

Cornerback (6)

In: Byron Murphy Jr., Isaiah Rodgers, Jeff Okudah, Mekhi Blackmon, Dwight McGlothern, Zemaiah Vaughn

Out: Ambry Thomas, Kahlef Hailassie, Reddy Steward, Keenan Garber

Analysis: The starting cornerbacks appear to be Murphy, Rodgers, and Okudah. Though the rest of the group is battling, Blackmon, McGlothern, and Vaughn have separated themselves from their peers.

Safety (4)

In: Harrison Smith, Josh Metellus, Theo Jackson, Jay Ward,

Out: Tavierre Thomas, Mishael Powell, Gervarrius Owens

Analysis: After using a trio of safeties more than any team in the NFL, it wouldn’t be surprising to see this group look a little bit more traditional. That would leave Smith and Metellus as the starting safeties with Jackson and Ward playing spot minutes here and there.

Specialists (3)

In: Will Reichard (K), Ryan Wright (P), Andrew DePaola (LS), Oscar Chapman (P)

Out: N/A

Analysis: Because he’s a part of the International Player Pathway Program, Chapman can essentially be kept around for free.

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