Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones for governor on Monday, one day before the Republican runoff, while President Donald Trump backed Rep. Mike Collins for the Senate nomination, setting up a dramatic final-hours split between the party's two most powerful figures in the state.
The dueling endorsements landed after early voting had already closed and with less than 24 hours before polls opened Tuesday. Ricky Hess, chairman of the Paulding County Republican Party, compared the timing to a market ambush.
"It's like the stock market. They drop a bomb after hours," Hess said, as the Daily Caller reported.
The result: Georgia Republicans headed into Tuesday's runoff elections with their top leaders publicly lined up on opposite sides of the Senate primary and scrambling to process a governor's race endorsement that few saw coming.
Kemp had stayed out of the gubernatorial contest until Monday, when he posted on X that he and his family were endorsing Jones to become Georgia's 84th governor. In the post, Kemp praised Jones as a "strong, trusted ally" and said the two had worked together for nearly 15 years.
Kemp credited Jones with helping return more than $9 billion to taxpayers, boosting pay and retirement benefits for law enforcement, and passing what Kemp described as the state's first meaningful tort reform legislation in two decades. He framed the race as a continuation of his own record:
"I believe Burt Jones will make a strong case to the voters for four more years of conservative leadership that ensures our state's best days are ahead, while Democrats try to run from Keisha Lance Bottoms' record of complete failure as mayor of Atlanta."
Kemp's reference to Bottoms was pointed. The former Atlanta mayor is the Democratic candidate for governor backed by former President Biden, and Kemp clearly intended to tie the general election stakes to his endorsement of Jones.
That same morning, a post by Patricia Murphy showed Kemp at Tommy's Barber Shop in Atlanta, where the governor said: "Marty and the girls and I will be voting for Burt Jones tomorrow to keep our state moving forward."
Jones' runoff opponent, businessman Rick Jackson, wasted no time responding. Jackson leaned into the contrast, posting on X that he had "always been the outsider in this race" and was "not beholden to anyone."
Jackson pledged to fight for Georgians who "don't have a lobbyist and aren't served by the special interests." The message was clear enough: if Kemp and the political establishment were lining up behind Jones, Jackson wanted voters to see that as a reason to pick him instead.
Whether that outsider pitch can overcome a sitting governor's endorsement with less than a day to go is the open question. Kemp remains popular among Georgia Republicans, and his imprimatur carries weight, particularly with voters who credit him for the state's economic growth over the past eight years.
The governor's race was only half the story. On Sunday, Trump posted on Truth Social endorsing Rep. Mike Collins in the Republican Senate runoff, calling him a "Highly Respected Congressman who has been with me from the very beginning."
Trump did not stop at praise for Collins. He went after Collins' opponent, former college football coach Derek Dooley, in direct terms. The endorsement set up a clear clash with Kemp allies, since Kemp had publicly backed Dooley as his preferred candidate to challenge Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in November.
"I don't know Derek Dooley, and neither does anyone else, but he seems like a nice person. Unfortunately, he has lived outside of Georgia for most of his life, didn't vote in 2020 or 2016, and said that I lost Georgia in 2020 when, in actuality, the facts have now proven that I won by a lot!"
The critique was specific: Dooley's residency history, his voting record, and his past statements about the 2020 election. For Trump, loyalty and roots matter, and he made clear that Collins had both while Dooley, in his view, had neither.
At a Monday press conference, Dooley was asked about Trump's decision to back Collins. His answer was measured but firm.
"My position has not changed since the day I got into this race. I said I'd be honored to have everybody's endorsement, but the most important endorsement I've been working toward every single day is that of the people of Georgia, because that's what matters most. And that's what I'm going to continue to focus on for these next 24 hours."
Kemp, for his part, did not abandon Dooley after Trump's endorsement of Collins. Less than 24 hours before polls opened, the governor posted a photo with Dooley on X and urged Georgia Republicans to "vote for Derek" on Tuesday.
Kemp also told Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Greg Bluestein that he had made his case directly to the president. The governor said he had been "very clear with the President" that a political outsider was the strongest candidate to take on Ossoff, and that Dooley was the best option.
"Obviously he disagreed, and the voters are going to weigh in tomorrow to settle that score."
That line, "settle that score", captured the moment. Kemp and Trump, the two most influential Republicans in Georgia, publicly disagreed on who should carry the party's Senate banner. And they left it to Tuesday's voters to decide.
The split is not new. Kemp and Trump have clashed before, most notably over the 2020 election and its aftermath. But the public nature of this disagreement, with both men issuing endorsements within 24 hours of each other, in opposite directions, on the eve of a runoff, gives it a sharper edge. The lesson from recent Republican primary defeats is that crossing Trump carries real risk. Whether Kemp's standing in Georgia insulates Dooley from that dynamic is what Tuesday will test.
In the governor's race, the dynamics are somewhat reversed. Trump had previously endorsed Burt Jones, and Kemp's Monday endorsement of Jones aligned both men behind the same candidate, a rare moment of agreement. The odd man out is Jackson, the businessman running as an outsider against two of the most powerful endorsements in Republican politics.
The Senate race is the more volatile contest. Collins has Trump's backing and a congressional record. Dooley has Kemp's support and a biography rooted in football, not politics. Trump's pointed criticism of Dooley's voting history and residency gives Collins a clear line of attack in the final hours.
For Georgia Republicans, the question is not just who wins Tuesday but what the results say about where power sits in the state party. Governor's races across the country, from California's reshuffled field to Georgia's own contested primary, have become proxy fights over the direction of their respective parties. Georgia's runoff is no different.
Two races. Two runoffs. Two sets of competing endorsements from the most powerful Republicans in the state. Early voting is over. The endorsements are in. The arguments are made.
In the governor's race, Jones carries the backing of both Kemp and Trump. Jackson carries the outsider brand and not much else in terms of high-profile support. In the Senate race, Collins has Trump; Dooley has Kemp. Voters will decide which endorsement carries more weight, and whether a former football coach with thin Georgia voting history can survive the president's direct criticism.
The ultimate test, of course, comes in November. Whoever emerges from Tuesday's runoffs will face Democratic opponents in a state that has become one of the most competitive in the country. Kemp himself acknowledged as much when he warned that Democrats would "try to run from" Bottoms' record. Republicans need a united front to hold the governor's mansion and flip Ossoff's Senate seat.
Whether they can build that unity after a weekend of public crossfire is another matter entirely. Georgia Republicans asked for a competitive primary. They got one, along with all the bruises that come with it.