Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp passes on running for a key Democratic-held Senate seat

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has decided not to run for the Senate next year, dealing a blow to Republicans who viewed him as a top recruit.

The state is a major target for Republicans as they look to expand their three-seat Senate majority. Georgia is one of two states, along with Michigan, where Democrats are defending a seat in a state that President Donald Trump won in November. Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff is running for re-election in Georgia, while Sen. Gary Peters is retiring in Michigan.

Kemp, who is in his second term and cannot run for re-election as governor because of term limits, said in a statement on X that a Senate run is "not the right decision for me and my family.

"I spoke with President Trump and Senate leadership earlier today and expressed my commitment to work alongside them to ensure we have a strong Republican nominee who can win next November," Kemp wrote, "and ultimately be a conservative voice in the US Senate who will put hardworking Georgians first."

Kemp's decision could spark a competitive GOP primary to take on Ossoff, who won his seat in a dramatic Jan. 5, 2021, runoff following the 2020 general election. Multiple members of Georgia's congressional delegation — including Reps. Buddy Carter, Rich McCormick, Mike Collins and Marjorie Taylor Greene — have suggested they would consider a bid if Kemp did not run.

Greene, the far-right congresswoman, indicated to NBC News last week that she is considering a Senate run.

“I have just a lot of options open to me,” she said, without engaging on whether she is being encouraged to run or actively making calls about it.

“Not really discussing it at this time,” she said.

Among other statewide elected Republicans, Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper posted on X in February that he met with the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and Insurance Commissioner John King told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution late last year that he would “take a hard look” at a Senate run — if Kemp stayed out.

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Republicans expressed confidence that they were in a strong position to flip the seat, even without Kemp as their nominee.

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"While Jon Ossoff is running to impeach President Trump, Republicans have a number of strong candidates who can build a winning coalition to add this seat to President Trump's Senate Majority," NRSC spokeswoman Joanna Rodriguez said in a statement, referring to Ossoff's recent comments that Trump “has already exceeded any prior standard for impeachment.”

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokeswoman Maeve Coyle said Kemp's decision is "yet another embarrassing Republican Senate recruitment failure as they face a building midterm backlash where every GOP candidate will be forced to answer for Trump’s harmful agenda. Senate Republicans’ toxic agenda and recruitment failures put their majority at risk in 2026."

Republicans had viewed Kemp as a top contender if he ran against Ossoff, with the NRSC chair, Sen. Tim Scott, of South Carolina, openly calling him his party's "No. 1 recruit" in an interview with Semafor in January.

Kemp won his second term in 2022 by nearly 8 percentage points, winning more than 53% of the vote in a race against Democrat Stacey Abrams two years after President Joe Biden narrowly carried the state.

Kemp also easily fended off a primary challenge in 2022 from GOP former Sen. David Perdue, who had Trump's endorsement. Trump targeted Kemp for opposing Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, vowing to campaign against him and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who also defeated a Trump-backed challenger in 2022.

Kemp's strong performance in that primary showed that he was able to maintain support from the party's conservative base of supporters. After Kemp endorsed Trump's presidential run last year, Trump thanked him "for all of your help and support in Georgia."

Kemp was first elected governor in 2018, beating Abrams by around 1 point in a banner year for Democrats.