Senate Republicans slam Kemp over shutdown ad
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and his family after the football game between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Nov. 29, 2024 on Dooley Field in Athens, Ga. Photo: David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
A group aligned with Republican Gov. Brian Kemp is running an ad that has infuriated Senate GOP leadership.
Why it matters: The anger over the commercial -- which partly blames the GOP for the historically long government shutdown -- represents one of the first high-profile public ruptures within the party over the funding lapse.
- Hardworking Georgians Inc., a Kemp-backed conservative advocacy group, released an ad this week that criticizes Georgia GOP Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins for their role in the shutdown, along with Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff (Ga.)
- Carter and Collins are running in the Georgia Senate primary against Derek Dooley, a former college football coach who has Kemp's support in his bid to oust Ossoff,
- Republicans say they have no room for error in swing state-Georgia and that the ad creates a distraction in a race that's their best Senate pickup opportunity next year.
Driving the news: "What do Mike Collins, Buddy Carter and Jon Ossoff have in common? They all failed and shut down the government," the ad's narartor says. "It's what happens when you send career politicians to DC."
- The commercial then praises Dooley as an "outsider" who can "change Washington."
- Senate GOP campaign officials tell Axios the commercial undermines their central message: That Democrats are solely to blame for the shutdown.
What they're saying: "Republicans are united with Trump in placing the blame where it belongs: Democrats like Jon Ossoff," said Joanna Rodriguez, a National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson.
- "Telling Georgia voters any message other than that one is perpetuating Democrat lies," Rodriguez added.
- Alex Latcham, executive director of the Senate Leadership Fund super PAC, said in a statement: "Chuck Schumer and the radical left members of his caucus are solely responsible for the immense pain inflicted on the American people as a result of the longest government shutdown in history."
- "Any claims to the contrary are both false and unhelpful," Latcham said.
Zoom in: One of the targeted candidates also went after Kemp.
- Collins released a statement questioning why Kemp's allies would "attack Republican members of the Georgia delegation by parroting the anti-Trump Democrat lie that 'Republicans are to blame for the shutdown,'" calling that argument "disconnected from reality."
Representatives for Kemp and Hardworking Georgians Inc. did not respond to requests for comment.
The intrigue: Senior Republican strategists have expressed frustration that Kemp -- a popular two-term governor and potential 2028 presidential candidate -- decided to support Dooley rather than remain neutral in the primary.
- Neither President Trump nor Senate GOP leadership has come out in favor of a candidate, and Republican officials say they wish Kemp hadn't gotten ahead of them.
- Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and NRSC Chairman Tim Scott (R-S.C.) initially tried to recruit Kemp to run, but the governor ultimately decided to forgo a bid.
Between the lines: Congressional Republicans have largely been united over the party's shutdown strategy. Yet some cracks have emerged.
- Some House Republicans -- including Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene -- have questioned why House Speaker Mike Johnson (La.) has kept the lower chamber on recess, for example.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional reporting.
