ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Gov. Brian Kemp chose an opportune and appropriate moment to officially make his endorsement in Georgia’s nationally watched 2026 U.S. Senate race.

On Saturday, while speaking with reporters ahead of the University of Georgia (UGA) football opener in Athens, Kemp endorsed Derek Dooley, his longtime friend and fellow UGA grad.

Dooley — a first-time candidate who has never run a political campaign — launched his Senate campaign earlier this month. He and two other Republicans, U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, are seeking the GOP nomination to face Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff in next year’s midterms.

Flipping Ossoff’s Senate seat is a priority for national GOP leaders, who unsuccessfully tried to entice Kemp to enter.

Dooley, 57, played wide receiver at the University of Virginia from 1987-90. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Georgia. His first head coaching job came at Louisiana Tech from 2007-09.

Dooley will be featured during Sunday’s On the Record broadcast at 11 a.m. on Atlanta News First.

He then moved on to the University of Tennessee as head coach from 2010-12, becoming the first son of a Southeastern Conference (SEC) head coach to become a head coach in the SEC himself.

From 2013-17, Dooley was a wide receivers coach for the Dallas Cowboys. Then he was the offensive coordinator for the University of Missouri from 2018-19 and the University of Alabama’s offensive analyst in 2020.

Dooley has a law degree from the University of Georgia. He is the son of legendary Vince Dooley, former UGA head football coach and athletic director.

Ossoff was elected in a runoff election in 2021, unseating David Perdue, who is currently the U.S. ambassador to China.

Ossoff gained national attention in 2017 as the Democratic candidate in the high-profile special election for Georgia’s 6th congressional district. Though he narrowly lost, the campaign set fundraising records and energized Democratic voters in Georgia’s suburbs.

Watch On the Record With Atlanta News First every Sunday at 11 a.m. on Atlanta News First and its streaming platforms.

When he was elected to the Senate, Ossoff, who was 33, became the youngest sitting U.S. senator at the time, the first Jewish senator from Georgia and only the second Georgia Democrat elected to the Senate in the 21st century.

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