A collection of Georgia’s Jewish leaders have turned to Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) to run against the state’s first Jewish senator Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) due to their disapproval of Ossoff’s handling of antisemitism in the nation and the Gaza war.
Some of Georgia’s biggest political donors and major leaders in the Jewish community shared in a bipartisan letter obtained by the New York Times that they would support Kemp in a bid for the state’s U.S. senate seat.
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“As a bipartisan group of leaders in the metropolitan Atlanta Jewish community, we humbly ask you to consider running for the United States Senate in 2026,” the letter to Kemp stated. “Should you decide to run in the 2026 election … you would find no better friends, more loyal allies or stronger supporters than us and our community.”
Ossoff was first elected to his senate seat in 2020, and he shared during his campaign the great pride and strength he has in his Jewish identity. He used a book of Hebrew scripture when sworn into office.
While Ossoff met with the hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and vowed security support for Israel, his vote against blocking certain weapons to Israel in November left a bad impression on the Jewish leadership.
The resolution authored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) failed to pass the Senate and mostly served to show disapproval of the high Palestinian casualties at the hands of the Israel Defense Forces.
Ossoff’s vote for the arms blockade garnered disapproval from 50 Jewish groups and synagogues including from the rabbi of the Temple where he had his bar mitzvah.
“Can you imagine, all these Jewish organizations agreeing on something in a strong letter, a strong proclamation? Absolutely stunning change,” Norman Radow, one of the state’s largest Democratic donors who signed the letter supporting Kemp, told the outlet.
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While some of the letter’s supporters, like Democratic Georgia state representative Esther Panitch, are opposed to Kemp when it comes to other key policy issues; they have determined the issues of the war in Gaza, which has reached a ceasefire, to be the most important one for Jewish Americans.
“Kemp has done things that I am fighting against every day,” Panitch said. “But it is a different level of betrayal that Ossoff has committed.”
