Kemp, Collins, Raffensperger Eyed as 2026 GOP Senate Picks in Georgia

The 2026 midterms will be a critical election for the future of American politics, as even though President Trump will be in office, it will be the first glimpse into what the electoral map could look like in a post-Trump era. Many eyes will be on the Peach State, where a handful of GOP contenders will battle to defend the governor’s mansion and flip a key Senate seat.

For the Senate seat, Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff is up for reelection. One of the most likely candidates to challenge Ossoff for the seat is Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who won his second term in 2022 but is at his two-term limit. Despite Kemp’s past success in statewide races, a primary win isn’t guaranteed if he runs – especially if Trump withholds his endorsement due to their previous clashes.

The latest poll from Advanced Targeting Research, taken March 26–27 with 726 Georgia Republican primary voters, found that if Kemp doesn’t decide to run, Georgia Congressman Mike Collins and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger are the next favorites for a GOP primary, with both receiving over 10% support in a possible primary. On the national stage, Collins has become one of the more outspoken representatives in the House, regularly posting tweets and memes that receive millions of views on X. The vast majority, 60.1%, said they didn’t know or were undecided about whom they would support.

The poll also found that Trump is more “strongly favored” than Kemp, with 68% of respondents saying they strongly approve of Trump’s job as president, compared to 50.2% who said the same of Kemp. Overall approval ratings for both men among Republican voters were nearly identical at 78%. The gap in strong approval suggests that if Trump were to endorse a candidate other than Kemp, that person could have a viable path to winning the primary, even though Kemp currently has better name recognition.

Whoever faces Ossoff would likely be favored. In a January poll conducted with 500 likely Senate voters, Kemp had a six-point lead over Ossoff in the hypothetical matchup.

In the governor’s race, there’s less certainty about the possible candidates. So far, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr is the only major Republican to have declared his candidacy. In a February interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene also said she was considering running for Senate and governor: “Of course I’m considering all possibilities. No decisions have been made, but I would be telling a lie if I didn’t say I wasn’t considering it.”

On the Democratic side, four-term Rep. Lucy McBath launched an exploratory committee for the possibility of running for governor but said that she will be spending time helping her husband, who is recovering from cancer surgery, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. Other Democratic candidates who have expressed interest in running include former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and two-time Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who in 2022 lost by 7.5 points to Kemp.