AJC: “Rarely has a 15-second digital ad triggered this much friction among Republicans.”
Georgia’s GOP U.S. Senate primary is currently embroiled in even more infighting after Gov. Brian Kemp released an ad in support of failed and fired former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley blaming Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins for the longest government shutdown in history.
Kemp’s Dooley-boosting ad argues that both Carter and Collins have “failed” and “shut down the government” as they have not been to work in over 50 days and remain opposed to extending critical tax credits as 1.4 million Georgians brace for skyrocketing premiums.
After the ad was released, both in-state and national Republicans, including Senate leadership, quickly slammed Kemp for promoting more infighting while boosting the failed and fired former football coach.
Axios: Senate Republicans slam Kemp over shutdown ad
By: Alex Isenstadt | 11.8.25
- 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 […]
- Carter and Collins are running in the Georgia Senate primary against Derek Dooley, a former college football coach who has Kemp’s support […]
- Republicans say they have no room for error in swing state-Georgia and that the ad creates a distraction […]
- Collins released a statement questioning why Kemp’s allies would “attack Republican members of the Georgia delegation […]”
- Representatives for Kemp and Hardworking Georgians Inc. did not respond to requests for comment.
- The intrigue: Senior Republican strategists have expressed frustration that Kemp […] decided to support Dooley rather than remain neutral in the primary.
AJC: Ad fallout
By: Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy and Adam Beam | 11.10.25
- Rarely has a 15-second digital ad triggered this much friction among Republicans.
- But that’s the fallout from a pro-Derek Dooley U.S. Senate spot from Gov. Brian Kemp’s political network that blamed “career politicians” for the federal government shutdown […]
- Axios reported over the weekend that the ad infuriated U.S. Senate GOP leadership. It also irked local Republicans.
- U.S. Rep. Austin Scott of Tifton, a close ally of both GOP lawmakers, called the ad “stupid” in three ways […]
- [Dooley allies] note the “unity” critique rings hollow given Collins was attacking Dooley before he even entered the race.