In a significant change from the Georgia governor, Brian Kemp has endorsed Republican Representative Mike Collins in his tight Senate race, according to the Collins campaign.
Kemp, who openly campaigned against Collins during the Republican primary, had not endorsed the representative after his win in June, and it was unclear whether an endorsement from the governor would come at all.
"Governor Kemp has never been afraid of a tough fight, and Georgia is stronger today because he's been willing to take them on," Collins said in an announcement on social media. "I'm grateful to have him standing with me to take back Georgia's Senate seat, stand up to the far-left agenda, and defeat Jon Ossoff this November."
In a statement shared by the Collins campaign,
Kemp said he and the candidate "share a commitment to making Georgia an even better place to live, work and raise a family."
"I'm proud to endorse Mike Collins for the U.S. Senate, and I know he'll always put Georgia first," Kemp said in the statement.
The endorsement comes as his opponent incumbent Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff has led statewide polls for weeks, and Collins has been attacked for refusing to cooperate with a House ethics investigation and is accused of associating with various white supremacist figures. It is also coming from a Republican who has been diametrically opposed to Collins for months.
Kemp campaigns against Collins in Georgia
During the Republican primary race for the U.S. Senate seat, Kemp not only endorsed Collins' opponent Derek Dooley, he campaigned with Dooley and threw this political capital across the state into the Dooley campaign.
Dooley, a former college football coach and the son of legendary University of Georgia coach Vince Dooley, and Kemp are longtime family friends, and Dooley represented a similar brand of conservatism as Kemp for his Senate bid.
Kemp's political action committee was reported to have funneled millions of dollars into Dooley's campaign in its final weeks and going into the primary runoff race in June. But, the two families were also involved in an alleged pay-to-play scandal in which Derek's brother Daniel Dooley earned millions when his security system was recommended by the state for schools. The accusations led to some Georgia lawmakers calling for an internal investigation into the financial web of the Dooley-Kemp relationship, and Kemp vehemently denied any wrongdoing while again promoting Dooley in his race.
Collins was, and is, the Trump-endorsed candidate throughout the primary race, but Kemp and Trump have a long and complicated history that also put Kemp at odds with Collins.
Collins has said as recently as June that he believes Trump won the 2020 election in Georgia, pushing election denial claims that have resurfaced again and again from the president. Trump spoke about the Georgia election when he was campaigning with Rep. Clay Fuller in his race to replace former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, and again when he spoke in Marietta about Trump Accounts and in an endorsement of Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson.
Kemp, and his Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, have stood up to Trump since he first called state officials asking to "find" more than 11,000 votes in 2020. The two politicians have asserted elections in Georgia have been, and will continue to be, safe, free and fair. An independent audit published by the Secretary of State's office found that there had been only 432 cases of voter irregularities confirmed in Georgia since 1996, of which 204 cases were from those with "pending citizenship."
Collins, however, has included alleged voter fraud as part of his campaign and has backed the president in his claims for the past six years.
Ossoff calls out endorsement timing
In a statement from Ossoff campaign spokesperson Valeria Rivadeneira-Crandell, the endorsement was called a last-ditch effort for a "collapsing campaign."
"There's a reason Brian Kemp worked so hard to defeat bigot Mike Collins in the GOP primary and waited to endorse the congressman until less than two months from Election Day," Rivadeneira-Crandell said, "and it's that Collins, who's only a congressman because his daddy was a congressman, is surrounded at work and at home by neo-Nazis and white nationalists."
Early voting starts in Georgia on Oct. 13, nearly one month to the day after Kemp's endorsement, and election day is held on Nov. 3.
Irene Wright covers midterm races in Georgia as the Atlanta Connect reporter with USA Today’s Deep South Connect team. Find her on X @IreneEWright or email her at ismith@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Georgia governor backs Mike Collins for Senate in late endorsement
