Governor Brian Kemp or Georgia decided not to run for the Senate in 2026, stealing the Republicans of their potential recruit against Senator Jon Ossoff, who is seen as the most vulnerable Democrat of the Chamber on the ballot next year.
Mr. Kemp is a popular two -period governor who won the re -election won in 2022 despite a primary challenge promoted by President Trump, who went publicly about Mr. Kemp’s refusal to consent to his false statements that the 2020 elections were fraudulent.
However, the main Republicans had tried to attract Mr. Kemp on the Senate’s career, with senators John Thune, the leader of the majority, and Tim Scott, president of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, making a recent visit. The surveys had shown that he would have a formidable challenger for Mr. Ossoff, who won the elections in 2020.
“I decided that being on the ballot next year is not the right decision for me and my family,” Kemp wrote in X on Monday, saying that he had spoken that day with Mr. Trump about his decision, as well as with the leadership of the Senate.
The news of Mr. Kemp’s decision is produced when it meets with supporters and donors in Sea Island, Georgia, for a three -day retreat where the main donors were asked up to $ 100,000 to serve as an “executive president.”
Kemp’s complicated relationship with Trump had fell on a potential career.
Trump publicly attacked Mr. Kemp in 2024 as he campaigned in Georgia, calling him “Little Brian Kemp”, and he publicly complained about Mr. Kemp’s wife not to support him too. “Leave my family out of it,” said Mr. Kemp.
Mr. Kemp and Mr. Trump possible appeared together and their relationship improved. But the governor has never been involved in the type of performative drag that so many other Republicans have done to remain in the good thanks of the president.
Mr. Osoff has been in cash, raising $ 11 million in the first quarter of 2025, to prepare for what is expected to be one of the most difficult races of nations next year. He has not avoided criticizing Mr. Trump, despite running in a state that the president won in 2025, accusing him or “authoritarian impulses” and a “desire to govern as king.”
“This country was based on a rejection of the kings, and my opinion is that the American people have no interest in this new experiment in the monarchy that this president is trying to impose,” he said recently.
Several prominent Republicans of Georgia could run, especially with Mr. Kemp outside the race. The list includes representative Marjorie Taylor Greene; John King, the insurance commissioner; and Tyler Harper, the Agriculture Commissioner, who published a photo of himself in February in the national offices of the Republican Senatorial Committee.