Scoop: Thune quietly met with Brian Kemp on Georgia Senate race

• Thune was joined at Monday's lunch in Atlanta by NRSC Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.), according to two people familiar with the meeting.
• Kemp's wife, Marty, also attended.

The intrigue: Kemp has a complicated relationship with President Trump, who attacked the governor for not overturning his 2020 election defeat in Georgia.

• But the Trump-Kemp relationship appears to be on the mend. The two appeared side-by-side during the 2024 election, and Kemp invited Trump to appear at a recent Republican Governors Association meeting.

Between the lines: Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff is a formidable fundraiser, and has been cited by the NRSC as an example of how Democrats are drawing large sums ahead of the midterm election.

• Kemp, a two-term governor, also has a major fundraising network and an established grassroots operation.
• Scott told Axios in March he expects Kemp to make a decision soon, and that the party has been in touch with other possible candidates in the event the governor doesn't run.
• "If [Kemp] runs, he wins," Scott said.

Go deeper: The making of Brian Kemp