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U.S. senator Jon Ossoff, and Senate Democrats generally, got some very good news on Monday when popular Georgia Republican governor Brian Kemp announced he would not run against Ossoff in 2026. Kemp was far and away the national GOP favorite to make the race, and a recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll showed him as the only Republican with an early lead over the freshman Democratic incumbent. But like a lot of powerful governors who take a long look at life as one of 100 senators, Kemp decided to give the contest a pass.
Ossoff, who has a pretty progressive record for a Georgia senator, could still be vulnerable in a state that twice elected Kemp and returned to the Republican presidential column in 2024. But as Greg Bluestein reported, Kemp’s demurral meant that “a scramble is now underway” for the GOP Senate nomination. He mentioned as potential contenders U.S. representatives “Buddy Carter, Mike Collins, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rich McCormick; Insurance Commissioner John King; and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.”
All of these worthies have some merit, but from a preliminary point of view, none of them can hold a candle to MTG. Greene has told friends she would “crush” the field in a Kemp-less GOP primary. She would begin a 2026 race with 100 percent name ID, a huge national fundraising base, and the ability to draw media attention with every extreme utterance and wild stunt she can muster. Among those who have encouraged her to think of moving on up to the upper chamber is the one person who excites the MAGA base more than Greene herself, as he indicated in 2023:
At a recent rally, former President Donald Trump suggested that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., run for the Senate.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene, you happen to be here. Would you like to run for the Senate? I will fight like hell for you, I tell you,” Trump said in Waco, Texas, drawing a smattering of cheers from the crowd.
A Greene candidacy would also excite Jon Ossoff. If she wins her party’s nomination, that would give him a national fundraising base too — perhaps not as large as MTG’s own small-dollar haul from extremists everywhere, but a fair haul. And he would clearly benefit from making his opponent’s record rather than his own the focal point of his reelection bid. The same Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll that showed Kemp with a narrow lead over Ossoff showed the Democrat ahead of Greene by a robust 54 percent to 37 percent margin. And even if MTG fell short in the primary, she would certainly deplete the resources of her intraparty opponent and probably create some bad feelings that could linger into the general election. Lord knows she has few inhibitions, as she showed when she squabbled with one of her closest House colleagues, Lauren Boebert, succinctly describing the Coloradan as “a little bitch.”
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. A daily jolt of MTG is like an electric cattle prod plunged into your morning bathwater. It will get the juices flowing in both the Republican and Democratic ranks.
