Top GOP recruit for crucial 2026 Senate race hints when he will make an announcement

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia is well aware that plenty of people are waiting for his decision on whether to run for the Senate next year.

The popular term-limited conservative governor is the GOP’s dream candidate to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, who is considered vulnerable, in the key southeastern battleground state, as Republicans aim to expand their 53-47 Senate majority in the 2026 midterm elections.

“We need to flip that seat. We should have a Republican in that seat, and I believe we’ll have one after the ’26 election,” Kemp said in a Fox News Digital interview this past week.

Kemp isn’t ready to make an announcement, emphasizing that he’s “really got a lot on my plate right now.”

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Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia is interviewed by Fox News Digital, on Sept. 27, 2022 in Alpharetta, Georgia (Fox News )

“I’m in the middle of my legislative session. We’ve got a big tort reform fight going on. I’m chairing the Republican Governors Association. I made a commitment on that,” he added.

But the governor acknowledged that “I know I can’t keep holding out forever, so we’ll have something to say on that down the road.”

Georgia’s legislative session is scheduled to adjourn on April 4.

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Sen. Tim Scott, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, has said that Kemp is a top recruit, and he hopes the governor will run.

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is interviewed by Fox News on Capitol Hill, on Feb. 19, 2025 in Washington D.C.  (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

And recent partisan polling in Georgia indicated Kemp topping Ossoff in a hypothetical matchup.

But the NRSC is confident of flipping the seat in Georgia even if Kemp decides to take a pass on a 2026 run.

Among the Republicans who’ve expressed interest in a run for the Senate seat in Georgia if Kemp opts out are Reps. Buddy Carter, Rich McCormick, Mike Collins, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, a top ally of President Donald Trump and a political rockstar on the far right with a very large national profile, along with state Insurance Commissioner John King.

Kemp was interviewed as he chaired the Republican Governors Association’s (RGA) winter meeting in Washington D.C.

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The governor, who has been steering the RGA for three months, emphasized his frenetic schedule to fundraise and recruit candidates. 

“Doing a lot of stuff in Florida, Texas, been to California, will be traveling to help other governors, but also just in DC, you know, continuing to work hard to raise money, really, all across the board,” he said.

And Kemp said he’s aiming to “really grow the organization, grow the donor base, and make people understand why it’s so important to have Republican governors, because we are the incubators of democracy. We’re the ones that are implementing a lot of these new and efficient things that we’re doing that then may filter out to another state and then another state after that.”

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Republicans held onto their 27-23 gubernatorial advantage in the 2024 elections, thanks in part to the efforts of the RGA.

Looking ahead, New Jersey and Virginia are the only two states to hold gubernatorial elections this year, giving them outsized national attention and making them key barometers for the mood of Americans during the start of a new presidential term.

A competitive GOP primary is underway in blue-state New Jersey, where Republicans hope to win a gubernatorial election for the first time in a dozen years.

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And in Virginia, GOP Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears is aiming to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin [Virginia governors can only serve one consecutive four-year term] and make history as the state’s first woman governor and the nation’s first Black female governor.

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla., as Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Lousiana Gov. Jeff Landry, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and Susie Wiles listen. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Next year, 36 states will hold gubernatorial elections.

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Pointing to the two-year cycle, Kemp said, “There’s a lot of work to do, but we are right on the ideas, and we just got to have the money and the fundamentals to be able to have a playbook and a plan and all these races to make sure we continue to have great Republican governors that are elected around the country.”