ATLANTA — No Republican is stepping forward yet to announce they would run against Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, some 24 hours after Gov. Brian Kemp announced he would not.
Kemp announced on Monday that he would not run against Ossoff in 2026, opening up the field for a number of potential candidates from Marjorie Taylor Greene to Buddy Carter, Mike Collins, or any number of others.
Veteran Republican operative Brian Robinson believes enough Republican dollars will flow into Georgia that the eventual nominee will get the much-needed name recognition they may now lack.
“Brian Kemp was tier one. There is nobody else in tier one. So, we’re now looking at tier two,” Robinson said.
He also thinks Kemp will use his extensive political machine and money to back the eventual nominee.
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Still, Robinson said Republicans need to think of a candidate who can win a general election, not just the primary.
“Think about what does a general election audience in a year when Republicans may have some political headwinds, what are they going to want? Who are the deciders going to vote for, the people who voted for Kemp and then Warnock?” Robinson said.
For Ossoff, the task remains the same.
Veteran democratic operative Tharon Johnson believes Ossoff will sit back and let the Republicans fight it out and burn through their campaign cash.
He wonders if national Republican leadership will get together and choose who they think will run to make the primary smoother.
“What’s going to be very interesting is to see how the Republicans campaign to an electorate in Georgia that has a very low approval rating of the president,” Johnson said.
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