A look at who could (or should) be Georgia's GOP Senate candidate

Everyone loves a political thriller, so here’s a good one unfolding in the search to find a Republican to challenge U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in 2026.

The main characters so far are Gov. Brian Kemp, who announced last month that he won’t challenge Ossoff for the seat, and President Donald Trump. The president’s keen interest in keeping Republican control of the Senate has reportedly made him unusually open to ideas about how to win the seat in Georgia, not just pick his one of his favorite boosters to run as he did with Herschel Walker in 2022.

With the Walker catastrophe as a backdrop, Kemp and Trump are now trying to avoid a messy GOP primary, which means finding a consensus candidate they can both endorse.

Kemp said as much after he made his own announcement about not running for the seat. And shortly after that, my colleague Greg Bluestein reported that Kemp quietly went to the White House for a sit-down with Trump to talk about names they could both agree upon.

Since then, crickets.

No joint endorsement of one of the two Republicans already in the race, U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter and Insurance Commissioner John King. And no word on the mystery man or woman who could possibly get the two leaders in agreement after years of feuding over everything from COVID lockdowns to Kemp’s own reelection in 2022, which Trump tried his best to prevent.

So while those two hash out the possibilities, here are a few potential names for them to consider in what may end up being a quixotic attempt to decide for voters what they will eventually decide for themselves.

Credit: Courtesy photo

Credit: Courtesy photo

Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper. In the Kemp-or-Trump world of the Georgia GOP, the 39-year-old farmer from Ocilla is one Georgia Republican who has solid relationships with both. A former state senator, Harper also got along well with Democrats in the Capitol while he was there, which could serve him well in a general election, not to mention the fact he’s already been elected statewide. Harper also rides bulls, plays classical piano and sings some Marshall Tucker Band tunes, so the fundraiser entertainment possibilities are endless.

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Credit: AP

U.S. Rep. Mike Collins. Don’t let the “just-a-simple-trucker” persona fool you. Collins is the son of a former Georgia congressman who ran a large trucking company before heading to Washington. He can also be an sophisticated legislator, having done significant outreach to Democrats to make his Laken Riley Act the first bill Trump signed in his second term. On the down side, Collins’ social media habit means he would likely struggle in a general election without Trump on the ballot, not that that’s ever stopped anyone from running before.

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

John Fervier. The Waffle House vice president jumped into the political fray last year and lived to tell about it as the evenhanded chairman of the increasingly loony Georgia Board of Elections. Despite pro-Trump members who introduced measures that were eventually blocked by court order, Fervier kept the board meetings in public session and reasonably functional, against all odds. Plus, as a Waffle House executive, he could use a Senate campaign tagline like “Ready to Serve” or “I’ll Never Waffle.”

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Credit: George Walker IV/AP

One of the Chrisleys. If out-of-state residency and a lack of relevant experience didn’t stop Walker, it doesn’t have to stop the Chrisleys, either. Suddenly interested in criminal justice reform, either of the blond reality stars would be social media and fundraising gold for the GOP. With a now-expunged criminal record, they would be able to not only run in the next election but also vote for themselves. The MAGA favorites would admittedly hit a buzz saw in a general election, but stranger things have happened in Georgia politics.

Speaking of strange things, some of the strangest have happened in recent Republican primaries in the state. Then-Secretary of State Kemp was nobody’s pick for most likely to win the governor’s race when he got into the 2018 contest — and he certainly wasn’t the pick of the GOP establishment.

But after a hidden-recorder-and-leaked-audio scandal took out Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle — then the favorite to win the race — a surprisingly scrappy Kemp pulled out a win in the primary and then general election. The rest is history.

Trump, too, was a shocking winner in the 2016 presidential primary, which former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was supposed to win over more than a dozen contenders. But all of the party leader endorsements, outside money and other advantages didn’t help Bush, Cagle or the other early favorites. Despite their unpredictable nature, or maybe because of it, competitive primaries tend to produce the strongest candidates. Kemp and Trump are proof of that.

So is Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who didn’t make this list because the president’s feelings about him are well documented.

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

If the president and governor really want to make a splash in the race against Ossoff, why not just consider Blooper, the Braves mascot? He has a sky-high name ID, excellent communications skills and is great on TV. Having never spoken out loud, he has also never said anything that opposition researchers could take out of context, although Mets fans could probably still find a way.

Blooper could be the solution to the Kemp-Trump mystery everybody could get behind. At least until voters step in to make up their own minds.

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