Georgia governor stumps for Dooley in closely watched U.S. Senate race

CANTON — Gov. Brian Kemp toured metro Atlanta Monday to stump for his preferred candidate in Georgia’s U.S. Senate race, former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley.

Dooley entered the race in August with Kemp’s backing after Kemp declined to throw his hat in the ring to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff. Dooley’s  in a three-way race with two Republican congressmen, Buddy Carter and Mike Collins.

Republicans in Georgia will select a candidate to face Ossoff in the May 19 primary election. Early voting begins April 27.

During a stop in the dimly-lit dining room of Williamson Brothers Bar-B-Q in Canton, Kemp made the case for picking Dooley over the sitting congressmen, citing recent Republican wins like Sens. Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania, Bernie Moreno of Ohio and Tim Sheehy of Montana, all of whom Kemp described as political outsiders before taking office.

“It takes an outsider that doesn’t have to worry about defending their political record or other things, to stay on offense, to tell people the real story about these guys and the real story about Jon Ossoff,” Kemp said. “That’s what I think Derek Dooley can do. The other thing is he’s running for the right reasons. He’s running because he has pride in the country. He wants to make Congress work again, bring a different mindset to Washington, D.C. Lord knows we need that, in my opinion.”

Kemp and Dooley go way back. They both grew up in Athens, and Kemp has often said that Dooley’s father, the legendary late University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley, was like a second father to him.

As a friendly crowd of GOP voters snacked on smoked meats, Dooley made the case that he’s the best choice.

Dooley compared his opponents to Herschel Walker, the UGA football star who faced Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in 2022. Walker won the Republican primary with the endorsement of President Donald Trump but lost the election during which he made numerous gaffes and was embroiled in several scandals.

“300,000 voters on that ballot voted for Gov. Kemp and Raphael Warnock, 300,000,” Dooley said. “Herschel lost that election by 41,000 votes. So what’s the lesson? The lesson is that if you’re going to win a statewide race – not congressional district, statewide – you better have a candidate who not only can energize, mobilize the Trump Republican crowd, you better have somebody that can find some common ground, that maybe has a leadership style that connects with voters that don’t always vote Republican or they don’t always vote in the midterms.”

Without mentioning his opponents by name, Dooley suggested Ossoff would attack Carter and Collins over their voting records, “divisive social media posts” or a congressional investigation into allegations that Collins used government funds to benefit a top aide.

Ossoff is the only Democratic senator up for election this year in a state won by Trump in 2024 and has been seen as a prime target for a GOP flip, but the Cook Political Report last week updated the race from a tossup to “leans Democrat.”

Both Carter and Collins have described themselves as strong supporters of Trump’s MAGA movement and courted the president’s endorsement, but he has declined to choose a favorite in the race.

Kemp’s relationship with the president has been characterized by ups and downs. A Trump endorsement helped Kemp win the governor’s mansion in 2018, but Kemp’s refusal to aid Trump in overturning his 2020 election loss led to some bad blood for a time.

Kemp is one of the most popular governors in the country, according to Morning Consult, enjoying a 61% approval rating as of the end of 2025.

But Kemp’s popularity hasn’t yet appeared to rub off on his endorsee. An Emerson poll released last month found Dooley in third place with about 10% of the vote, trailing Collins with about 30% and Carter with around 16%. Another 40% of respondents were undecided in that race.

The same poll found Dooley performing the worst in a hypothetical matchup against Ossoff.

But as candidates like to say, the only poll that matters is the one on Election Day, and Dooley said he’ll be talking to voters  until then.

At least two voters at Williamson Brothers on Monday said they have become Dooley believers.

“I was interested in Derek Dooley before I got here. Now I’m committed to him.” said Canton retiree Donna Kovarik, who came to the event with her husband, Bob. “He had all the highlights of what needs to happen and what needs to change in our country, and I fully support his ideas, so I’m backing him 100 percent, and we’ll spread the word.”