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Two-term Georgia governor, Brian Kemp, says he is passing on running for the U.S. Senate in next year's midterm elections. That's a blow to Republicans, who spent months courting him to challenge Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff. WABE's Sam Gringlas reports from Atlanta on what Kemp's decision illustrates about the fight for the Senate in 2026.
SAM GRINGLAS, BYLINE: All spring, politicians, journalists and strategists have eagerly awaited Kemp's decision.
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BRIAN KEMP: Obviously I have a lot of people reaching out to me. And I'm going to just try to get, you know, a little bit of downtime where I can, to kind of think through things, and then we'll keep people posted.
GRINGLAS: Senate Majority Leader John Thune met with Kemp and his wife last month in Atlanta. Senator Pete Ricketts, a former governor himself, spoke with Kemp several times. Of the states Trump won in 2024, Georgia's the only one with a Democratic senator up for reelection. Republicans see Georgia as their top pickup opportunity and saw Kemp as their strongest candidate.
BRIAN ROBINSON: You can't hardly name another Republican who took on Trump and won and is still beloved by Republicans. It's absolutely without parallel.
GRINGLAS: Republican strategist Brian Robinson, referring there to 2020 when Kemp rebuffed Trump's plea for help overturning the election result. Trump then backed a primary challenge against the governor, who Kemp trounced. Before the end of the 2024 presidential campaign, the two men reconciled. Democrats hope Trump's second-term actions will boost them in the midterms. Ossoff began his reelection bid last month with strong words about the president.
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JON OSSOFF: Georgia will bow to no king.
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GRINGLAS: An Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll last week found Kemp in a dead heat with Ossoff, who led other Republicans polled by a healthy margin.
ROBINSON: Ossoff's people are smart. They know that the best player on the field has sidelined himself. I'm envisioning corks popping and loud celebratory yells.
GRINGLAS: Kemp posted on X this week that running next year was not the right decision for him and his family.
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GRINGLAS: Steve Wrigley was chief of staff to the late Georgia governor Zell Miller, who then went on to the Senate but declined to run for reelection.
STEVE WRIGLEY: He told me once - he said, you know, I just don't have the personality where I want to be here for 20 years in hopes of becoming a subcommittee chairman.
GRINGLAS: Wrigley was in his garden when I gave him a call.
WRIGLEY: I'm down to the last four packs of zinnia seeds, then I'm done.
GRINGLAS: He told me going from powerful chief executive to one of a hundred in a polarized, sometimes paralyzed Senate was difficult for his old boss.
WRIGLEY: I think it was Joe Biden who was in the Senate at the time, told him, you know, a lot of new governors just have difficulty transitioning into being a senator.
GRINGLAS: That dynamic is more pronounced today. In Michigan, Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer declined to run for an open Senate seat. Colorado Democratic Senator Michael Bennet is running for governor. And in New Hampshire, Republican Governor Chris Sununu, another top GOP recruit, passed on a run for Senate. Jay Morgan, a veteran of Georgia GOP politics, says Congress has ceded a lot of power to the president.
JAY MORGAN: Trump is just manhandling the Congress right now. The Congress has never been more irrelevant.
GRINGLAS: In Georgia, the GOP Senate field had been frozen - until now. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene are among the Republicans not ruling out a run. A few hours after turning down the race, Kemp addressed donors at his annual Sea Island retreat. Morgan says he's among the Kemp supporters disappointed by the decision.
MORGAN: But I don't think anybody can be mad about it because this guy has been a true workhorse in American politics.
GRINGLAS: And skipping a run now doesn't mean Kemp's career will end when he leaves office in 2027. Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock is up for reelection in 2028. Also up for grabs that year - the White House. For NPR News, I'm Sam Gringlas in Atlanta.
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