Gov. Brian Kemp is election night’s biggest loser

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Dooley, the son of legendary UGA football coach Vince Dooley, was little known in Georgia apart from his years as the football coach at the University of Tennessee. He stumbled early when news broke he had not voted for nearly 20 years before the 2024 elections, and his candidacy never caught fire with President Donald Trump or the president’s supporters.

When the president endorsed Collins over Dooley, he also singled out Dooley’s comment that the Republican had admitted Trump did not win the Georgia election in 2020.

Credit: Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Con

Credit: Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Con

Kemp threw his weight behind Jones in a last-minute endorsement Sunday, but he spent the better part of the past year recruiting, boosting, funding and campaigning for Dooley, a childhood family friend. Dooley and Kemp did more than 90 campaign events together across the state, often with first lady Marty Kemp on hand, but they still came up short.

The defeats echoed the loss of Kemp’s 2019 Senate appointee, Kelly Loeffler, after the governor picked the then-unknown business executive ahead of a host of other Republicans to succeed the late U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson in the office.

Making his case for Dooley and Jones, Kemp had argued that both would give Republicans the best chance of defeating Democrats in November and, in Jones’ case, to continue his legacy at the Capitol. Unfortunately for Kemp, Republican voters did not agree.

In the end, Dooley lost to billionaire Rick Jackson 45% to 56%, while Jones lost to Jackson 53% to 47%.

Tuesday’s results might be an embarrassment for Kemp, but he may be vindicated as the campaign against the Democrats unfolds.

Collins will most certainly be attacked for the ethics investigation against him, as Kemp warned. In fact, it’s already begun. As for Jackson, Kemp said his pick of Jones didn’t mean he was against the billionaire Republican, but it did mean Kemp saw problems for Jackson ahead.

Plenty of Republicans are saying behind the scenes that Kemp should have stayed out of the races entirely, that the intraparty fights, the millions spent in the Senate primary, and the head start for Ossoff all could have been avoided if the governor had just stayed neutral.

But what if Kemp were right? If “MAGA warrior” Collins proves to be easy work for Ossoff in a year when Trump is unpopular, Kemp can say he saw it coming. And if Georgia voters don’t warm up to Jackson as a healthcare billionaire with no governing experience, Kemp’s last-minute curveball for Jones will look prescient.

But being right about the primaries will be cold comfort for Kemp and the Republicans who agreed with him if it means Democrats take back control of Georgia in the end.