Anti-LGBTQ+ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has bragged that, if Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) decided not to run for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat, she could win the Republican primary to run for seat, currently held by incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA). Well, Greene may have a chance to prove her claim now that Kemp has officially said he’s not running, though a recent poll suggests that she’d not only lose to Ossoff but also convince more Republican voters to support him as well, if she ran in the general election.
In a Monday post on X, Kemp wrote, “I have decided that being on the ballot next year is not the right decision for me and my family. ” He added that he spoke with the president and GOP Senate leaders to express his “commitment to work alongside them to ensure we have a strong Republican nominee who can win next November.”
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“How much did you make off of people’s despair?” she asked Greene.
Over the last few weeks, I have had many conversations with friends, supporters, and leaders across the country who encouraged me to run for the US Senate in 2026. I greatly appreciate their support and prayers for our family.
— Brian Kemp (@BrianKempGA) May 5, 2025
After those discussions, I have decided that being…
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Greene thinks she can be that nominee. She recently told NewsNation, “The polling shows I can win the governor’s primary or I can win the Senate primary. That’s a choice that I can make, and I’ll give it some thought.”
However, a recent poll suggests that she’s wrong about her chances.
The poll, released last week by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), shows Ossoff (D) holding “commanding leads” over three other Republican candidates, the publication wrote, including Greene, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and Insurance Commissioner John King.
Though none of those aforementioned Republicans have publicly pledged to run, here’s how they fared against Ossoff in AJC’s poll:
- Raffensperger got 39% of respondents’ support, and Ossoff got 48%.
- King got 38% of respondents’ support, and Ossoff got 51%.
- Greene got 37% of respondents’ support, and Ossoff got 54%.
The fact that Ossoff got the highest level of support when paired against Greene suggests that she would be a uniquely unpopular candidate who, in this poll, compelled 60% of independents and 10% of Republicans to choose a Democrat.
While Greene won her district’s 2024 election by a margin of 64.4% against her Democratic rival, Shawn Harris, who got 35.6%, a Senate race would take her out of the deeply red congressional district and subject her to the scrutiny of voters across the purple state.
It’s unclear if Greene could even win a Republican primary that would pair her inflammatory anti-leftist rhetoric against Kemp or Raffensperger’s more measured and moderate tone.
A high-profile race, complete with unflattering opposition research and ties to the president’s vastly unpopular government staffing and funding cuts and business-destabilizing tariffs, could negatively impact the popularity of any Republican candidate running against Ossoff.
Indeed, Ossoff already has $11 million in his campaign coffers. He is portraying himself as an obstructionist to the administration’s agenda and challenging Kemp to oppose the mass layoffs at the Atlanta-based CDC.
Ossoff won his 2021 special runoff election against Republican David Perdue by only 54,944 votes, a slim margin of 1.22%. Whoever ends up as his opponent will likely be competing in one of the most expensive and hotly contested races of the nation.
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