U.S. President Donald Trump at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., May 2, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
Georgia is among the swing states that GOP and Democratic strategists will be paying close attention to in the 2026 midterms. Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is up for reelection, and Republicans are hoping to unseat him. Meanwhile, conservative Republican Gov. Brian Kemp is term-limited, and GOP strategists are hoping Georgia doesn't end up with a Democratic governor.
But according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) reporter Patricia Murphy, President Donald Trump is making life difficult for fellow Republicans in the Peach State.
"On any given day," Murphy explains, "Georgia's politics still feel a little more red than blue. A Democrat has not won a governor's race since 1998, and Republicans have dominated statewide offices for more than two decades. Most counties outside of metro areas are Republican top-to-bottom, too, even in positions that are otherwise nonpartisan."
Trump continues to claim, without evidence, that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him in Georgia. However, Kemp and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a conservative Republican, maintain that Joe Biden won the Peach State fair and square that year.
On May 5, NBC News reported that the Trump-era U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is "seeking the names and contact information of election workers in Fulton County, Georgia, who worked during the 2020 presidential election, according to legal filings." And a DOJ subpoena, according to NBC News, "marks an expanded effort by the Justice Department to investigate the 2020 election, which President Donald Trump has continued to focus on since he lost there."
But some traditional conservatives in Georgia believe that Trump's obsession with 2020 isn't helpful.
According to Murphy, Trump is making Georgia's statewide races harder for Republicans than they have to be.
Murphy reports, "Apart from the uphill race to defeat Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, the 2026 elections still seem like Republicans' to lose. But President Donald Trump isn't making it easy."
Noting a recent AJC poll in a May 6 post on X, Murphy wrote, "One last takeaway from the @ajc 's latest poll--Republicans are trying to hold on to power in Georgia. Donald Trump isn't helping."