A political organization linked to Georgia’s Republican Governor Brian Kemp seems to be adopting Democratic rhetoric to criticize two Republican senators in the state amid the government shutdown.
Hardworking Georgians, Inc., a tax-exempt group supported by Kemp, has been running ads that accuse Republican senators Mike Collins and Buddy Carter of shutting down the government for the benefit of their rival, Republican Rep. Derek Dooley. Interestingly, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Collins and Carter voted for a stopgap funding measure back in September, yet this context hasn’t been included in the ads.
The 15-second video ad implies that Collins, Carter, and Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff share a failure narrative, stating, “They all failed and shut down the government.” It goes on to suggest that sending career politicians to Washington results in failure, arguing that “it takes an outsider to change Washington. Derek Dooley for the U.S. Senate.”
With the looming Georgia Senate race, Republicans view this contest as pivotal for the upcoming midterm elections. Collins, Carter, and Dooley are competing for the nomination to challenge Ossoff, seen as the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent seeking re-election.
The claims made in the advertisement directly contradict the traditional Republican stance regarding the shutdown, which typically blames Democrats for funding dilemmas. For over a month, Congressional Republicans, alongside President Trump, have targeted Senate Democrats for holding out on funding until their health policy concerns are addressed.
Carter and Collins were among many House Republicans supporting a Trump-backed proposal to avert a government shutdown. However, the bills passed by the House have consistently failed to clear Senate Democratic filibusters, with Ossoff voting against them numerous times since September.
Collins has accused the Kemp-affiliated group of echoing the claims of anti-Trump Democrats regarding Republican accountability in funding gaps. He suggested that if the governor’s organization wants to spend funds, it should focus on exposing Ossoff and Raphael Warnock’s records rather than attacking fellow Republicans aligned with Trump.
The Ossoff campaign has pointed out that the Kemp-backed ads targeting Collins and Carter illustrate ongoing conflicts within the Republican Party. Devon Cruz, a senior advisor for the Georgia Democratic Party, remarked that Kemp’s attempts to back Dooley reflect a challenging primary environment for Republicans and that the eventual nominee could be significantly weakened for the general election.
Comments from the campaigns of Carter, Dooley, and the Kemp-connected groups were not available before publication.
While Collins has maintained a lead in primary polls, a substantial number of Republican voters are still undecided. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll from late October indicated that 30% of likely Republican voters support Collins, while Carter and Dooley received 20% and 12%, respectively, with a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
Kemp, who will serve as chair of the Republican Governors Association in 2025, is set to retire after two terms. Earlier in the year, he declined to challenge Ossoff as urged by the national Republican Party and played a role in bringing Dooley into the race.
As for Trump, he has yet to formally endorse any candidate in the Republican primary, and the White House did not respond to a request for comment on the pro-Kemp advertisement.
