WSJ: “Deep infighting and disunity within the Georgia Republican Party are creating anxiety for Republicans ahead of crucial midterm elections.”
New reporting from the Wall Street Journal puts the chaotic, messy infighting that has come to define Georgia’s GOP U.S. Senate and gubernatorial primaries on full display as the candidates for each rip each other to shreds ahead of the May 19th primary.
In the GOP U.S. Senate primary, MAGA warrior Rep. Buddy Carter, MAGA extremist Rep. Mike Collins, and failed and fired former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley have been locked in a “combustible” race as they each desperately compete for Donald Trump’s endorsement.
In the GOP gubernatorial race, infighting and millions in dark money spending has fueled another “messy” primary battle – and while Jones is the “clear MAGA favorite”, billionaire Rick Jackson is “challenging him for that lane” in what has become a fast-moving MAGA civil war.
Wall Street Journal: The Spectacular MAGA Breakup Rocking Georgia
By Cameron McWhirter and Lindsay Wise | February 26, 2026
KEY EXCERPTS:
- Heading into midterms that will determine control of Congress, [GOP] party leaders in Atlanta and Washington had hoped to build party loyalty and unity in Georgia, a red-leaning state that has seen more blue upsets of late.
- Infighting has consumed three key races—governor, Senate and the House seat—spawning lawsuits, ethics complaints and vicious ads.
- In Georgia, some longtime party figures are gloomy.
- The anxiety runs deepest in the Senate race.
- Democrat Jon Ossoff holds the seat, and his campaign entered the year with about $25.5 million in cash—more than all of his potential Republican challengers combined, and with no competitive primary to burn through it.
- No clear front-runner has emerged from the three Republicans vying to be the GOP Senate candidate.
- The field took shape only after Trump and Republican leaders failed to recruit stronger candidates…
- The Georgia governor’s race has also turned ugly.
- A mysterious political-action committee with an unknown funding source—Georgians for Integrity—has spent about $17 million attacking Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, whom Trump has endorsed, according to data from AdImpact. The ads call Jones “shady.”
- Jones had been the clear MAGA favorite, but a late entrant—Rick Jackson, a billionaire healthcare executive who has never held office—is now challenging him for that lane.
- Jackson has vowed to be Trump’s “favorite governor,” called Jones “lazy as the day is long,” and dubbed Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, another candidate, a “Judas” for refusing to help Trump overturn his 2020 defeat in Georgia.
- Democrats are optimistic. “These idiots are making our jobs a lot easier,” said Charlie Bailey, the Democratic state chairman.
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