Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia has decided against running for Senate in 2026, robbing Republicans of their top potential recruit against Senator Jon Ossoff, who is seen as the chamber’s most vulnerable Democrat on the ballot next year.
Mr. Kemp is a popular two-term governor who won re-election in 2022 despite a primary challenge fueled by President Trump, who stewed publicly over Mr. Kemp’s refusal to indulge his false claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent.
Top Republicans had nonetheless sought to woo Mr. Kemp into the Senate race, with Senators John Thune, the majority leader, and Tim Scott, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, making a recent visit. Polls had shown he would have been a formidable challenger to Mr. Ossoff, who narrowly won election in 2020.
“I have decided that being on the ballot next year is not the right decision for me and my family,” Mr. Kemp wrote on X on Monday, saying he had spoken that day with Mr. Trump about his decision, as well as with Senate leadership.
The news of Mr. Kemp’s decision comes as he is gathered with supporters and donors in Sea Island, Ga. for a three-day retreat where top donors are asked to give as much as $100,000 to serve as an “executive chair.”
The fact that Mr. Kemp, 61, continues to vacuum up cash as he bypasses a Senate bid leaves open the possibility that he could seek even higher office in 2028.
But for now, Mr. Kemp’s complicated relationship with Mr. Trump had loomed over a potential Senate campaign.
Mr. Trump publicly attacked Mr. Kemp in 2024 while campaigning in Georgia — calling him “Little Brian Kemp” — and complained publicly about Mr. Kemp’s wife not supporting him, too. “Leave my family out of it,” Mr. Kemp responded.
Mr. Kemp and Mr. Trump eventually appeared together and their relationship improved. But the governor has never engaged in the type of performative groveling that so many other Republicans have done to stay in the president’s good graces.
Mr. Ossoff has been banking cash, raising $11 million in the first quarter of 2025, to prepare for what is expected to be one of the nation’s toughest races next year. He has not shied away from criticizing Mr. Trump, despite running in a state the president won in 2025, accusing him of “authoritarian impulses” and a “desire to rule as a king.”
“This country was founded on a rejection of kings, and my view is that the American people have no interest in this new experiment in monarchy that this president is trying to impose,” he said recently.
Several prominent Georgia Republicans could run, especially with Mr. Kemp out of the race. The list includes Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene; Representative Mike Collins; John King, the insurance commissioner; and Tyler Harper, the agriculture commissioner, who posted a photo of himself in February at the National Republican Senatorial Committee offices.
