ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Saturday endorsed Republican Derek Dooley in Georgia's 2026 U.S. Senate race, arguing an outsider without congressional experience can best critique Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff's record.
“I'm a firm believer that we need a political outsider to do that, someone that can stay focused on his record, but also someone who has a vision for our state in the future,” Kemp said. “That is not a politician.”
Kemp's choice of Dooley is hardly a surprise — he told other
Republican candidates that he would back Dooley before the former University of Tennessee football coach even entered the race. But Kemp's appearance with Dooley on Saturday before a University of Georgia football game in Athens — along with Kemp spending on Dooley's behalf and detailing his closest political aides to run Dooley's campaign — underline the investment of Georgia's second-term governor in a political novice.
Kemp agreed to back the 57-year-old Dooley after deciding not to run for the seat himself. Georgia Republicans are looking to topple Ossoff, considered the Senate’s most vulnerable Democratic incumbent seeking reelection next year. The GOP field also includes U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, as well as activist Reagan Box.
Dooley has focused on attacking Ossoff and backing President Donald Trump, tactics that unify Republicans. He argued Saturday that Ossoff's history of support for former President Joe Biden and his opposition to Trump disqualify him from another term.
“What's amazing is he wants to be our quarterback for the next six years,” Dooley said. “And where I come from, when you deliver results like that, your ass goes on the bench. So I'm looking forward to rolling up my sleeves. I'm going to earn the support every day from the people and Georgia and give this Senate seat back to them.”
But Dooley has a scant history in politics — he didn't vote in the 2016 and 2020 elections when Trump was a candidate. Still coaching at the time, Dooley has said he was too busy and distracted to vote. But Collins says that will repel Republicans whose votes are needed.
“If we nominate someone who didn’t vote for Donald Trump in 2016 or 2020, never registered as a Republican, and hasn’t lived in Georgia for 25 years, the base will not show up, the low-propensity Trump voters will stay home, and Jon Ossoff will win again — period,” Collins said in a statement posted online Friday pushing back against Kemp's reasoning.
Collins said that backing Trump’s agenda in Congress won’t be a “liability” in a general election and argued his record shows he gets things done.
Kemp and Trump met and said they would try to agree on a preferred candidate.
Kemp said Saturday that he has talked to Trump about backing Dooley and that Trump “respects my decision.” But Trump isn’t yet ready to endorse, and all the candidates are vying for Trump's nod.
“There's only one endorsement that matters in Georgia — and will all due respect, it ain't this one,” Carter spokesperson Harley Adsit said.
Democratic Party of Georgia spokesperson Devon Cruz said Kemp is “fanning the flames of an already chaotic GOP U.S. Senate primary.”
Dooley is the son of legendary University of Georgia coach Vince Dooley and was a lawyer before he went into coaching. Derek Dooley compiled a 15-21 record with the Tennessee Volunteers before he was fired in 2012. After that he was an assistant coach with the Dallas Cowboys, the University of Missouri, the New York Giants and the University of Alabama.
Kemp and Dooley spoke Saturday at a tailgate party blocks away from Sanford Stadium, where Georgia’s playing field is named for his father, before the Bulldogs kicked off their game against Marshall University.
Dooley hasn’t shied from his football past. He said Saturday that in both coaching and politics, “leadership matters," saying coaching was about “bringing people together, finding some common ground and bringing hope and opportunity for them every day.”
But other candidates argue Dooley was a failure at coaching and are underscoring his affiliation with a non-Georgia school. Collins posted a University of Georgia football schedule online Friday with a picture of Dooley standing in for the Sept. 13 game against Tennessee.
