Kemp’s Senate Exit Stir Georgia’s Political Landscape

Pres­i­dent Trump praised efforts to free Tina Peters, jailed for expos­ing alleged 2020 elec­tion fraud, call­ing her incar­cer­a­tion unjust. Mean­while, Gov­er­nor Bri­an Kemp announced on May 5, 2025, at a Sea Island donor event that he will not run for Georgia’s U.S. Sen­ate seat in 2026, trig­ger­ing a polit­i­cal shake­up. The 2026 elec­tion is crit­i­cal, with calls to “drain the swamp” in the GA GOP to secure Repub­li­can vic­to­ries. Sec­re­tary of State Brad Raf­fensperg­er is eye­ing high­er office, while Attor­ney Gen­er­al Chris Carr and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones court donors for the governor’s race. Rep. Mike Collins, a Trump sup­port­er, is posi­tioned for Trump’s Sen­ate endorse­ment, with a fundrais­er announced short­ly after Kemp’s deci­sion. Rep. Mar­jorie Tay­lor Greene (MTG) may run against Sen. Jon Ossoff but faces doubts about win­ning a gen­er­al elec­tion despite pri­ma­ry polling strength. Rep. Bud­dy Carter and Insur­ance Com­mis­sion­er John King are also con­sid­er­ing Sen­ate runs, while Kan­diss Taylor’s poten­tial can­di­da­cy risks Repub­li­can loss­es. Kemp’s exit reshapes nation­al and state pol­i­tics.

• Thank you Pres­i­dent Trump for his state­ment on Tina Peters. “Col­orado must end this unjust incar­cer­a­tion of an inno­cent Amer­i­ca.” work­ing to free Tina Peters for expos­ing the demo­c­rat elec­tion fraud in 2020.
• Bri­an Kemp will not seek to be the Sen­a­tor of Geor­gia. Keep in mind a cou­ple of things that are not being report­ed. The 2026 elec­tion is cru­cial. It is cru­cial that we drain the swamp of the GA GOP to ensure that repub­li­cans win 2026. 
• It is out there that Brad Raf­fensperg­er is look­ing for a high­er office. 
• Every­one lined up to kiss the ring of Bri­an Kemp yes­ter­day. Every year Bri­an Kemp invites the donors to Sea Island. He has dif­fer­ent peo­ple that parade in front of the donors for 48 hours. Keep in mind that Bri­an Kemp made the announce­ment at the event. Today behind closed doors, Chris Carr and Burt Jones have to dance in front of the donors to raise mon­ey and get donors to sup­port them in the gov­er­nor’s race. 
• Mike Collins, con­gress­man 10th dis­trict, may be there. He has done every MAGA thing he can think to do. When he ran for con­gress­man he didn’t get the endorse­ment of Trump, he nev­er let it both­er him. He ran as a Trump sup­port­er. He is posi­tioned for Don­ald Trump’s endorse­ment for the Sen­ate. If he runs for Sen­ate who will run in the 10th. 
• Then there is MTG who may run for Sen­ate against Ossoff. MTG could win the pri­ma­ry but she can­not win the gen­er­al elec­tion. The AJC has tried in the last year to nor­mal­ize MTG to make her more accept­able. If she is at the top of the tick­et, repub­li­cans are a ner­vous wreck if she could be at the top of the tick­et. She says that polling shows that she could win the gov­er­nor’s pri­ma­ry or the sen­ate pri­ma­ry. But she did not tell you that the polling is say­ing she could not win statewide. 
• Kemp’s announce­ment has had a domi­no effect in nation­al pol­i­tics. 
• Raf­fensperg­er is posi­tion­ing him­self to run for office. Bud­dy Carter is putting his name out. But if Bud­dy Carter runs for Sen­ate, will Kan­diss Tay­lor run for the office, this is an office that repub­li­cans could lose. Insur­ance com­mis­sion­er John King has expressed inter­est. 
• NRCC (Nation­al Repub­li­can con­gres­sion­al com­mit­tee) announced a fundrais­er for Mike Collins on May 29th announced about an hour after Kemp’s announce­ment.