EXCLUSIVE: Marjorie Taylor Greene Believes She Would ‘Crush’ Senate Primary If Kemp Opts Out, Sources Say

Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is seriously considering a run for Senate in 2026, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Greene, one of President Donald Trump’s most loyal allies in Congress, is actively surveying whether to get in the race if Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp were to pass on a run. Though Kemp is expected to clear the field if he decides to enter the race, one source who requested anonymity to discuss the congresswoman’s thinking told the Daily Caller News Foundation that Greene believes she would “crush” the GOP primary contest if the governor were to pass on the contest. (RELATED: Early Polling From Key Senate Race Looks Grim For Democrats)

Greene’s potential candidacy for incumbent Democratic Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff’s seat would put the conservative congresswoman at the center of one of the most closely watched races of 2026. Republicans are laser-focused on defeating Ossoff, whose narrow victory over former Republican Georgia Sen. David Perdue in a January 2021 runoff election was partly responsible for costing Senate Republicans their majority during the 2020 cycle.

Ossoff is the only Senate Democrat running for reelection in a state that Trump won last November.

Though Kemp is viewed as the party’s top recruit to defeat Ossoff — reflected by recent polling — the Republican primary is “frozen” until the term-limited governor makes a decision about whether to enter the race, a source familiar with the primary contest told the DCNF. Another source who requested anonymity to discuss both potential candidates’ bids said Kemp is likely to indicate whether he is running by Memorial Day.

The governor recently capped off one of the most important legislative fights of his tenure by signing two tort reform bills into law Monday and has been focused on supporting Republican governors through his chairmanship of the Republican Governors Association. The National Republican Senatorial Committee and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have both lobbied Kemp to run.

Greene would have the easiest path to securing the Republican nomination absent Kemp running, one of the sources familiar with Georgia politics said.

The conservative congresswoman currently leads a House oversight panel focused on supporting the Department of Government Efficiency’s mission to root out government waste. She recently held a town hall on the edge of her district in the Atlanta suburbs where she vigorously defended the president’s policies despite protestors disrupting the event.

I’m not intimidated by the Democrats who tried to shut down my town hall tonight.

I refused to tolerate their selfish attempts to disrupt an event that was for all of my constituents, not just the ones who could make the most noise.

This is the type of business that should be… pic.twitter.com/q1hfuYtwu7

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) April 16, 2025

Other Georgia House Republicans are also eyeing the race in the event that Kemp declines to run, including Reps. Mike Collins, Rich McCormick and Buddy Carter. However, none of these other candidates have Greene’s statewide name recognition, ability to raise significant amounts of money and support among the party’s base, the source familiar with Georgia politics said.

Greene would also have the added advantage of being close with Trump who could go to battle on her behalf in a contested primary.

The president notably urged Greene to run for Senate during a campaign rally in April 2023, telling the crowd that he would “fight like hell” for her.

The source familiar with Georgia politics said that while no candidate should take a Trump endorsement for granted, it would be extremely unlikely that the president would endorse a candidate running against Greene.

Though polling shows that Greene could be a weaker general election candidate than Kemp, both sources said that she is likely the only candidate besides the governor that could scrap together a coalition of primary voters to avoid a runoff election. If no candidate wins at least 50% of the vote in Georgia’s primary contest, the top two candidates with the most votes would advance to a runoff.

“Whoever is in the runoff is beating the hell out of each other and going into debt,” the source familiar with Georgia politics said. At the same time, the source predicted that Ossoff will cruise to the nomination and have tens of millions in a campaign war chest to defend his seat.

Ossoff, a prolific fundraiser, took in an eyebrow-raising $11 million between January and March 2025, the largest haul for an incumbent in the first quarter of an off-year, according to Politico. The senator does not currently have any declared Democratic primary opponents and has been taunting Greene to jump into the race.

Greene previously told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in February that she was not ruling out running for governor or launching a bid for Ossoff’s Senate seat.

“Of course I’m considering all possibilities,” Greene said. “No decisions have been made, but I would be telling a lie if I didn’t say I wasn’t considering it.”

In the same interview, Greene had kind words to say about the prospect of Kemp getting in the race. “I think Governor Kemp is a really solid candidate,” she said.

The source familiar with Georgia politics said Greene is likely to run for Senate over the governorship given her status as a prominent Trump ally on Capitol Hill and her ability to nationalize the primary contest with the support of the MAGA movement.

“I think if she got in tomorrow, she’d raise millions of dollars online in the first week,” the source said. “If I was one of the other members of Congress that was looking at the race, I would not be fired up about running against her.”

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect Rep. Greene’s statement about Gov. Kemp to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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