Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) delivered a private warning to the state's Republican members of Congress who are running for Senate: your agenda in Congress has been too unpopular for you to be electable.
According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Kemp made the admission during a call with Republican donors, while arguing they should support former football coach Derek Dooley as opposed to Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, who have also declared their candidacies.
“Another congressman from a heavily Republican district with a congressional voting record isn’t going to work,” said Kemp in audio obtained from the call. “I know and respect both Congressmen Carter and Collins. This is not an attack on them. It’s just the way that I feel. Ossoff will have hundreds of millions of dollars to define anyone’s voting record in the worst possible light.”
Both lawmakers signed on to President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," a piece of legislation that cut over $1 trillion from Medicaid, food assistance, and green energy in order to partially offset massive tax cut extensions for the ultra-wealthy.
As for Dooley, he added, “He’s a hard worker who can connect with people and will bring common sense to Washington. While he may not have a political background, he has been tested more than most.”
Republicans in recent years have looked to multiple other people from sports to run for political office, and while former football coach Tommy Tuberville was successfully elected to the Senate from Alabama, the model hasn't worked as well in Georgia.
In 2022, the GOP recruited former NFL star Herschel Walker to run against Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, and the campaign fell apart near the end, from Walker whipping out a prop police badge onstage at a debate when challenged on his exaggerated claims to have worked as a police officer, to allegations about a history of domestic abuse.