U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene will not run for Georgia governor in 2026, saying Tuesday she intends to stay in Congress and promote President Donald Trump’s agenda rather than compete for Georgia’s top job.
“One day, I might just run purely out of the blessing of the wonderful people of Georgia, my family and friends,” she wrote in a lengthy social media post, “but it won’t be in 2026.”
Greene, a Rome Republican, also passed on a Senate bid earlier this year at the urging of Trump and other Republicans who worried she would be too polarizing in a general election matchup against Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff.
For months, Greene said she was seriously considering a bid to succeed term-limited Gov. Brian Kemp, which would have reshaped the Republican field and given Lt. Gov. Burt Jones formidable competition for Trump’s endorsement.
Attorney General Chris Carr launched his campaign in November, and Jones entered in July on a pro-Trump platform and $10 million loan to himself. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger may also join. But Greene’s firebrand personality would have made her a uniquely polarizing figure.
Democrats were poised for that possibility. Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and state Sen. Jason Esteves, the two most prominent Democrats in the race, have invoked Greene’s looming candidacy to energize their base and jolt donor networks.
Greene promoted internal polls showing her strong position in a contested primary thanks to her fiercely loyal MAGA following and near-universal name recognition.
A former fitness studio owner, Greene made her political debut in 2020 when she mounted a short-lived bid for a suburban Atlanta seat before switching to a safely Republican district in northwest Georgia after a veteran GOP incumbent retired.
In recent weeks, Greene hasn’t shied away from speculation that she could run, telling The Atlanta Journal-Constitution repeatedly she was seriously considering a bid.
“I have so much support from the people of Georgia, and so that is what opens up my ability to decide — not because I’m trying to climb a ladder or trying to get a new title, but it’s only because the people of Georgia know how much and how hard I fight for them,” Greene said in an interview.
In her post on Tuesday, Greene said she was confident she could have won the race for governor even without the “blessing from the good ‘ole boys club or the out of state consulting leaches or even without the blessing of my favorite president.”
And she criticized candidates “who offer lukewarm platforms that never address the real issues plaguing our state.”
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