- Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced he will not run for Senate in 2026, creating an opening for other candidates, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who appears to be testing voter support for a potential campaign.
- Polling shows incumbent Democrat Jon Ossoff leading Greene by 17 percentage points, while other potential Republican candidates like Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger poll slightly more competitively.
- Other potential Republican candidates include state Insurance Commissioner John King.
Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia is up for reelection in 2026, and the purple-state race is likely to be one of the closest in the country.
Several Republicans are weighing whether to jump in the race, but after one of the top-named candidates — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp —recently announced he will not run, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene now appears to be rallying the troops for her own Senate campaign.
Kemp was seen as the strongest possible Republican candidate who could run against the incumbent Democrat, Ossoff. A poll from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution found Kemp and Ossoff polling within the margin of error in the general election.
Brian Kemp passes on Georgia Senate race
On Monday, Kemp announced in an X post he would not be joining the race for Senate.
“Over the last few weeks, I have had many conversations with friends, supporters, and leaders across the country who encouraged me to run for the U.S. Senate in 2026. ... After those discussions, I have decided that being on the ballot next year is not the right decision for me and my family,” he wrote.
Kemp added that he’d spoken with President Donald Trump and Senate leadership earlier on Monday “to ensure we have a strong Republican nominee who can win next November and ultimately be a conservative voice in the U.S. Senate who will put hardworking Georgians first.”
Kemp and Trump have had a fraught relationship, with Trump repeatedly criticizing the popular governor for not doing more to intervene in the 2020 election after he lost the state that year.
Ahead of the 2024 election, Kemp and Trump appeared together in the toss-up state, which Trump ended up winning.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene sees an opening
Greene appears to be testing the waters for a Senate race, per an announcement to potential voters.
“I need to know if I should run for Senate in Georgia, and if I should, I need to know if I will have your support or not,” she wrote in an email to supporters.
Greene called the potential Senate race the “biggest fight of my life, the most important, the most brutal and the most high-stakes.”
The same Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll that found Kemp within a margin of error of Ossoff in the general election found Georgia voters preferring the Democrat over Greene by 17 percentage points — a higher margin than other Republican candidates surveyed.
However, in a conversation with News Nation, Greene referenced a different unnamed poll, saying, “I can win the governor‘s primary or I can win the Senate primary. That’s a choice that I can make, and I’ll give it some thought.”
Upon this announcement, New York Magazine quipped, “If nothing else, a Greene candidacy will make the Georgia Senate contest one of the most entertaining of the midterm cycle, ensuring that Ossoff’s low-key demeanor doesn’t sedate the electorate.”
Other potential candidates appear to poll higher than Greene
In the Journal-Constitution poll, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger ranked just below Kemp, hitting 39% in the general against Ossoff’s 48%.
Though Raffensperger has not confirmed his Senate bid, at the end of April, he told The Georgia Vote that he was considering it.
“I’m looking at all my options and we’re talking to our team,” Raffensperger said, adding that an official announcement would likely happen “in a few months” if he were to join the race.
Also scoring higher in the Journal-Constitution poll than Greene was Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John King, just one percentage point behind Raffensperger.
Though much less likely to announce a Senate bid than Greene, Raffensperger and King, All-American swimmer-turned-activist Riley Gaines has hinted at her involvement in the Georgia Senate race as well.
At the beginning of March, Gaines posted a list of every senator who voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, and the list included Ossoff.
Accompanying the photo, Gaines wrote, “Specifically, I want to highlight GA Democrat @SenOssoff. You have a daughter. Have you no shame? Georgians are watching. I will make it my mission to do what I can to remove you from your senate seat in 2026.”