Brian Kemp built his career pretending to be a conservative.
Trump supporters in Georgia just found out how fake that act really was.
And Brian Kemp stabbed conservatives in the back with this infuriating betrayal.
Kemp’s group attacks Republicans during historic shutdown
The longest government shutdown in American history has Democrats panicking about the 2026 elections.
Republicans are united behind President Trump’s demand to cut wasteful spending and drain the swamp.
But Georgia Governor Brian Kemp just gave Democrats the ammunition they desperately needed.
A Kemp-backed group called Hardworking Georgians Inc. released a campaign ad this week that blames Republicans for the shutdown.¹
The commercial attacks Georgia GOP Congressmen Buddy Carter and Mike Collins for “shutting down the government” alongside Democrat Senator Jon Ossoff.¹
“What do Mike Collins, Buddy Carter and Jon Ossoff have in common? They all failed and shut down the government,” the narrator says in the ad.¹
Here’s what makes this backstabbing even worse.
Both Carter and Collins are running in the Republican primary to challenge Ossoff in 2026.
Kemp’s throwing his support behind Derek Dooley, a failed football coach who spent years losing games for Tennessee — Georgia’s hated rival.¹
That’s right. Kemp picked a guy who coached against Georgia to represent Georgia in the Senate.
Dooley went 15-21 at Tennessee and was one of the worst coaches in SEC history before getting fired.
Now Kemp’s running Democrat talking points against two sitting Republican Congressmen to clear the field for this loser.
Senate GOP leadership erupts over Kemp’s betrayal
Senate Republican campaign officials told Axios the commercial “undermines their central message” that Democrats bear sole responsibility for the shutdown.²
“Republicans are united with Trump in placing the blame where it belongs: Democrats like Jon Ossoff,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson Joanna Rodriguez.²
“Telling Georgia voters any message other than that one is perpetuating Democrat lies,” Rodriguez added.²
Alex Latcham, executive director of the Senate Leadership Fund super PAC, didn’t hold back either.
“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,” Latcham said.²
Congressman Collins fired back at Kemp for attacking Republicans “by parroting the anti-Trump Democrat lie that ‘Republicans are to blame for the shutdown.'”²
Collins called Kemp’s position “disconnected from reality.”²
President Trump and Senate GOP leadership haven’t endorsed anyone in the Georgia primary.
Republican officials admit they wish Kemp had stayed neutral instead of creating this mess.²
Kemp’s been sabotaging Trump supporters for years
This isn’t the first time Kemp’s stabbed conservatives in the back when it served his political interests.
Back in 2020, Kemp refused to help President Trump challenge the stolen election in Georgia.³
Trump lost Georgia by less than 12,000 votes after Democrats flooded the state with suspicious mail-in ballots.¹¹
Kemp could have called a special session to investigate. He could have demanded answers about ballot harvesting and drop boxes.
Instead, he certified Biden’s fraudulent victory and told Trump to move on.
Trump made Kemp his “No. 1 enemy” and recruited former Senator David Perdue to primary him in 2022.³
Kemp survived that challenge, but he’s never stopped undermining Trump and his supporters.
Throughout 2023, Kemp publicly urged Republicans to “move on from the 2020 presidential election” and stop talking about election integrity.⁴
“Not a single swing voter will vote for our nominee if they choose to talk about the 2020 election being stolen,” Kemp said at a Republican National Committee donor retreat.⁴
When Trump got indicted in Georgia for challenging the 2020 results, Kemp refused to criticize the Democrat prosecutor going after him.
Kemp even claimed Republicans couldn’t win if they stayed “distracted by what is happening at the Manhattan and Fulton County district attorney offices.”⁵
The reason Kemp won his 2022 primary wasn’t because Georgia Republicans love his Never Trump act.
It’s because Kemp spent years building a separate political machine after the state GOP backed Trump’s candidates over his.⁶
Now Kemp’s using that machine to push a failed football coach who agrees with him about abandoning Trump’s agenda.
Look what Kemp’s really doing here.
He’s backing a failed football coach over two sitting Republican Congressmen.
Derek Dooley coached Tennessee from 2010 to 2012 and was an absolute disaster.
He went 15-21 overall and 4-19 against SEC competition.¹²
Dooley was the first Tennessee coach to lose to Kentucky in 27 years.¹³
He lost to Vanderbilt by 23 points — the worst margin in that rivalry since 1954.¹³
USA Today called Dooley’s tenure at Tennessee “one of the most disastrous coaching tenures in SEC history.”¹³
Dooley’s biggest claim to fame? Losing to Georgia. Repeatedly.
Now Kemp expects Georgia Republicans to send this guy to Washington, D.C. to represent them in the Senate.
Get this — Dooley claims to be a Republican but didn’t even vote in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.¹⁴
That’s right. While Trump was fighting to Make America Great Again, Dooley couldn’t be bothered to show up at the polls.
Dooley admitted he went “20 years” without voting in elections.¹⁵
“There was a time, and those were part of that time, in my career, where I was overly-focused on my job and my family, and I didn’t vote,” Dooley told reporters.¹⁴
Too busy losing football games to vote for the leader of the free world.
Dooley never donated to President Trump’s campaigns and declined to register as a Republican in multiple states where he lived.¹⁶
His wife registered as a Republican, but Dooley couldn’t be bothered.¹⁶
This is Kemp’s handpicked candidate to take on Jon Ossoff.
Meanwhile, Congressman Mike Collins has been delivering real results for conservatives.
Collins authored the Laken Riley Act that President Trump just signed into law — landmark legislation requiring ICE to detain illegal immigrants charged with theft.⁸
Collins votes with Trump’s agenda, fights the radical left, and actually understands how to get things done in Congress.
He’s a true America First conservative who’s never backed down from the fight.
Congressman Buddy Carter has been in Washington for over a decade, but he’s exactly the kind of establishment loves.
Carter talks tough back home but falls in line with leadership when it counts.
He voted to challenge the 2020 election results after the damage was already done,⁷ but where was he when Trump needed Republicans to stand up in real time?
Carter’s the safe choice for the GOP establishment — which is exactly why Kemp isn’t attacking him as hard as he’s going after Collins.
Kemp declined to run for Senate himself back in May 2025.¹⁷
Senate Republican leadership had begged him to run — they called him their “No. 1 recruit.”¹⁸
But Kemp passed on the race because he’s got bigger plans.
He wants to run for President in 2028.¹⁹
Think about that. Kemp turned down a Senate seat so he could position himself for a White House run.
Now he’s sabotaging the Republicans who actually entered the race to fight for Georgia.
Kemp wants the Georgia GOP filled with people loyal to him, not Trump.
Collins represents everything Kemp can’t control — a real conservative who answers to voters, not establishment power brokers.
So Kemp’s running ads trashing Collins while pushing a failed coach who didn’t even vote for Trump.
And if that means helping Democrats win by dividing Republicans during a shutdown, Kemp’s fine with it.
Republicans can’t afford this kind of betrayal in Georgia.
The state is a must-win for conservatives, and Kemp’s playing games with a race that could determine control of the Senate.
Mike Collins is the real conservative in this race — the guy who’s actually fought alongside Trump and delivered results.
But Kemp would rather sabotage him and push a candidate who sat on the sidelines for 20 years.
Democrats are already using Kemp’s ad in their own attacks against Collins.
Senate Republican campaign committees are scrambling to contain the damage.
And all because Brian Kemp wanted to play kingmaker by pushing a failed football coach who couldn’t be bothered to vote.
Georgia voters need to remember this betrayal.
When Kemp runs for President in 2028 claiming to support Trump, remember he spent 2025 attacking the conservatives who actually fight for America First values.
¹ Alex Isenstadt, “Senate Republicans slam Kemp over shutdown ad,” Axios, November 8, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Sarah McCammon, “How Georgia’s Republican governor broke with Trump — and thrived,” NPR, August 16, 2023.
⁴ Fredreka Schouten, “Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp urges Republicans to move on from election fraud claims: ‘2020 is ancient history,'” CNN, April 15, 2023.
⁵ Fredreka Schouten, “Gov. Brian Kemp says GOP can’t be ‘distracted’ by Trump investigations if it wants to win in 2024,” CNN, April 16, 2023.
⁶ Jeff Amy, “Georgia’s Kemp veers from Trump, but state GOP not moving on,” Associated Press, April 29, 2023.
⁷ “Rep. Earl ‘Buddy’ Carter,” Republican Accountability, May 25, 2021.
⁸ “Mike Collins (politician),” Wikipedia, accessed November 8, 2025.
⁹ Jeff Amy, “Georgia’s Kemp veers from Trump, but state GOP not moving on,” Associated Press, April 29, 2023.
¹⁰ Sarah McCammon, “How Georgia’s Republican governor broke with Trump — and thrived,” NPR, August 16, 2023.
¹¹ Ibid.
¹² Brad Crawford, “Former Tennessee coach Derek Dooley announces Republican bid for Senate seat in Georgia,” CBS Sports, August 4, 2025.
¹³ Dan Wolken, “Former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley has new goal of Georgia Senate race,” USA Today, August 4, 2025.
¹⁴ Zach Merchant, “Derek Dooley calls ‘outsider’ status an advantage, discusses voting record in past elections,” 11Alive, accessed November 8, 2025.
¹⁵ Zach Merchant, “Derek Dooley enters politics, recalls 20 years without voting,” 11Alive, accessed November 8, 2025.
¹⁶ “A look at Derek Dooley’s voting record as he eyes a Georgia Senate run,” Washington Examiner, July 23, 2025.
¹⁷ Maya Pottiger, “Kemp decision to avoid 2026 Georgia U.S. Senate race scrambles projected field against Ossoff,” Georgia Recorder, May 6, 2025.
¹⁸ “Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp Won’t Run for US Senate Seat in 2026 Against Democrat Jon Ossoff,” U.S. News & World Report, May 5, 2025.
¹⁹ Ibid.
