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Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) is the only Senate Democrat representing a state that Trump won in 2024 who is up for reelection in 2026.
Republicans from Trump on down have been trying to recruit popular incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to run against Sen. Ossoff for months.
On Monday, Kemp announced that he would not be running for the Senate next year. Kemp told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “After those discussions, I have decided that being on the ballot next year is not the right decision for me and my family.”
Kemp has long been considered a potential 2028 Republican presidential candidate, and those close to him have been sending out signals that the governor was not running for the Senate.
What this means in practical terms is that Republicans lost their top recruit for any Senate race, and in Georgia, it is a crisis, as the other potential Republican candidates don’t have the profile or popularity to be potentially successful US Senate candidates.
