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Republicans are increasingly anxious about the burgeoning Senate primary that could rupture the fragile alliance between Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and President Donald Trump.
Three Republicans have already jumped into the race to topple Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff in next year's midterms: Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, as well as former college football coach Derek Dooley, who launched his bid Monday after Kemp hand-picked him. The president has yet to throw his support behind anyone — a contrast to his role in clearing the field for his preferred contenders in other crucial midterm races.
It all amounts to a tenuous truce between Trump and Kemp, which some Republicans are dubious will last through the May primary. It’s forming the contours of a proxy battle about the direction of the Republican Party, with Trump aiming to deepen his influence over the final years of his presidency and Kemp setting up what is expected to be his own White House bid in 2028.
“Kemp and Trump are playing really, really nice … because they have to. The two guys don't like each other,” said Harrison Lance, an Atlanta-based business owner and GOP strategist, who is neutral in the primary. “At some point they’re just going to come to blows.”
The brewing contentiousness is reminiscent of the party infighting that exposed a volatile political relationship between Kemp and Trump, who clashed in 2019 when the governor selected businesswoman Kelly Loeffler for a vacant Senate seat over the objections of Trump, who wanted the governor to select then-Rep. Doug Collins. They also clashed when Kemp rebuffed Trump’s push to overturn Biden’s 2020 win in the state.
Next year’s Georgia Senate race is expected to be one of the nation’s most expensive, and is likely to surpass the record of $515 million spent by campaigns and outside groups in the state that was set in the 2020 cycle. It's among the top targets for Republicans to flip as they seek to pad their majority in the Senate.
Past party fault lines created an opening for Democrats to seize both of Georgia’s Senate seats after decades of Republican dominance. The crowded primary field adds pressure for party insiders to stave off a civil war.
Dooley, son of legendary University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley and a family friend of the Kemp's, was encouraged to run by the governor despite scant connections to local Republicans. A person familiar with Dooley’s campaign, granted anonymity to discuss internal strategy, said the former University of Tennessee coach will work to secure Trump’s endorsement. The person added Dooley is “expected” to get Kemp’s endorsement, but didn’t provide a timeline.
A spokesperson from Kemp’s office declined to comment.
Trump “will probably get involved at some point,” said someone familiar with the president's thinking on the Georgia race, granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations.
Should Trump and Kemp endorse opposing candidates, fissures could emerge in the delicate balance they’ve struck in recent years.
Dooley, who did not mention Kemp in his announcement video, appears to be also vying for Trump's endorsement.
Collins is too and is playing up his role sponsoring the Laken Riley Act, a bill named after a University of Georgia student slain by a migrant and delivered the president’s first legislative win since returning to the White House this year. That bill mandates the detention of undocumented immigrants charged with crimes. Since his Senate bid last week, Collins has rolled out a string of endorsements, including state Senate Majority Leader Jason Anavitarte, state House Majority Whip James Burchett and former Georgia Congressman and one-time House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Carter jumped in the race in May, and has $4.1 million in his account, according to the latest FEC filing, despite lacking Collins’ high-profile endorsement roster. He has already spent more than $2 million on ads to bolster his name ID, and is heavily courting people in Trump world to create distance between himself and his rivals.
“There is only one candidate in this race who is a MAGA Warrior, who has the strongest record in the state of Georgia of supporting President Trump, and who can beat radical liberal Jon Ossoff,” Carter campaign spokesperson Harley Adsit said in a statement.
Eric Tanenblatt, a Republican fundraiser and longtime ally of Kemp said he hoped the president and governor could keep peace amid the looming primary. “[The governor] did everything he could to help President Trump [win in 2024] and it seems like they have buried the hatchet,” he said.
The White House declined to comment for this story.
Collins and his allies are already racing to frame Dooley before he introduces himself to voters, inflaming intraparty tensions and ratcheting up the stakes of a Trump-Kemp split.
“I've never seen you in any of the rallies, whether it be for the gubernatorial race or the Senate race or just basic party stuff,” Bruce LeVell, a Georgia businessperson and Trump ally who is backing Collins, said of Dooley. “I've never, ever seen you in my life. And many of my colleagues have said the same thing.”
The Collins campaign, within hours of Dooley’s announcement, released an ad suggesting he was insufficiently supportive of Trump. He “spent his life on the sidelines” the ad said, framing Dooley as someone who “never fights, never wins” — a knock on University of Tennessee and Louisiana Tech's losing records during his tenure as head coach. The ad also touched on a report in the Washington Examiner finding he didn’t vote in recent elections.
Collins, who many GOP operatives believe is in the lead position to secure Trump’s backing, said in a statement he hopes to secure Kemp’s backing, too.
“While Georgia Republicans are distracted by their brutal messy primary, the Ossoff campaign will continue to build insurmountable momentum needed to win next November,” Ossoff spokesperson Ellie Dougherty said.
The Republican primary will test Kemp’s political strength and whether another candidate, particularly one with few political connections, can ride his coattails to the nomination and beyond in 2026.
“Remember the governor’s on the tail end of his time in office [and the midterms are] the last elections that he has until truly a lame duck,” said Jay Williams, an Atlanta-based GOP strategist.
Those in Kemp’s orbit suggested the governor’s political machine is unmatched in the state.
“Trump doesn't really have the ground game in Georgia,” said Jason Shepherd, a former Cobb County Republican Party chair. “As long as Dooley doesn't have a major gaffe in his campaign, then I think he gets the nomination."
Adam Wren and Jessica Piper contributed to this report.
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