Are the Republicans having difficulty recruiting senate candidates in the Trump era?

After the Republican main candidate for the main race of the US Senate in 2026 ran, some Republican was divided on whether their party struggled to recruit competitive senate candidates.

There are 35 senate seats for elections in 2026 – 33 in regular and two elections in special elections. Two of them, in Georgia and Michigan, could be a lottery after two republican famous chose not to run in 2026, while the seats in Minnesota and New Hampshire were emptied democratic slender, and two seats from incumbent in Maine and Carolina North Lean Republican, according to Cook’s political report.

The Republican party currently holds 53 seats for Democrats 45. Two independent caucuses with Democrats.

“My goal is to remain the majority; my stretching goal is to add seats New -New this tells Axios.

Seats for elections in Georgia – held by the ruling Democratic Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, who nominated themselves to be re -elected – had received close attention from the Republican party, who hoped they could reverse what was widely seen as a vulnerable seat.

But the Governor of the Republic of Brian Kemp, who was seen as the main challenger to the chair, took him out of the dispute, saying he would not run for a chair.

“I have decided that being in the voting next year is not the right decision for me and my family,” kemp Write in a statement about x In early May.

Republican senate leaders, including Scott and majority leaders of the Senate John Thune, Hospital., And even President Donald Trump have spent several months trying to convince Kemp to launch an offer against Ossoff. Kemp wrote that he told Trump about his decision not to run the morning he posted.

“Brian Kemp, being the most popular republican mode in Georgia history, is the ideal candidate to take [Ossoff] In, “Ryan Mahoney, a Republican strategist based in Georgia and former Director of Communication for the Georgian Republican Party, told ABC News on Monday.

In New Hampshire, the Republican party faces the same situation when the former Governor of New Hampshire who is popular, Chris Sununu, a Republican who has pondered the escape for the senate of the chair emptied by Senator Jeanne Shaheen. DN.H., said in early April that he had decided not to run away.

“I keep the door a little open, and I think, is that right for me and my family? It is not right for us,” Sununu told the radio station in April.

Sununu said he still thought the chair would play a role for the Republican party.

Some Republicans have referred to Kemp’s decision, and at a lower level of Sununu, as a sign that the Republican party is challenged to recruit candidates who will ask for voters throughout the state. Some also feel that candidates who appear too tied to Trump or too right wing will fight in race throughout the state even if they clean the main, if the White House and Trump continue to face a counterattack towards the policy and cutting of the federal government.

“I think this is a problem. I think Trump has muted it for the party in general. … Trump demands absolute loyalty and nothing is important other than loyalty to him. And that makes people who want to talk about problems and things that are considered by their state or constituents – [it] Make it very difficult, “said ABC News contributor Barbara Comstock, a Republican who previously represented Virginia in the DPR.

But other Republicans said they did not believe Kemp and Sununu did not run to show signs of challenges by recruiting candidates.

A national Republican who works in a large senate race told ABC News that Kemp’s decision was not surprising, on the grounds that the governor made a decision based on the desire to attend with his family after a long term like the Governor.

Regarding concerns over Trump’s public opinion, operative also appointed Trump’s victory in Georgia in 2024 and enthusiastic between Republican parties in New Hampshire and noted that the White House and candidates will continue to involve voters in the midst of semester to motivate them to change regardless of candidates.

Mahoney, separately, refers to how even though the ruling parties are usually performing worse in the midst of semester, news around the economy and other problems continue to shift and no one can predict if Trump’s president and agenda in 2026 will be popular or “Albatros.”

“It’s still too early to know, and I think it will be very stupid for Democrats to assume, that only because of history tells a story, that it will continue in 2026,” Mahoney said.

Since Kemp’s decision, one of the members of the Georgia Congress delegation since launched an offer, while the second had just announced that he would not run for a chair.

Rep. Buddy Carter, who represented the first Georgian congress district, announced last week that he entered the 2026 senate race. In the video announcementHe labeled himself as “Maga Warrior,” showing many photos of him with Trump and Trump’s clip that praised him.

He then told ABC News that he had been in contact with the White House about the nomination of his senate and that Trump would make a decision to support in the main election in the future.

Commissioner of Georgia John King Insurance and Safety Fire separately announced the offer for seats on Monday.

But the question rotates for weeks about whether Georgian representative Marjorie Taylor Greene – a Conservative Firebrand and one of the most loyal allies of Trump in the DPR – will run for the Senate. He told reporters on Wednesday that he was considering that or nominated himself as Governor of Georgia. (Kemp Limited.)

But on Friday, at a Essays posted on xGreene announced that he had decided not to run for the Senate.

“I really love my state in Georgia. People here may not be rich in world wealth, but they are filled with kindness, love, family values, and deep joy, whether they sit on the front porch or tailgate of pickup trucks.

“Can I give it to georgians in the senate? Can I fulfill my promise? Can I really save this country from within? This is a difficult truth: Senate unsuccessful,” he wrote. “This is designed to block the will of the people and protect the grip of Uniparty’s power.”

After criticizing the leadership of the Senate and Senator Yang, he said, “Sabotage Trump’s agenda,” Greene frankly: “Someone once said, ‘Senate is a good idea to die.’ They are right.

There are some initial mixture signals about how Greene will appear if he does run against Ossoff. A The latest poll from Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that Ossoff and Kemp will be in the heat that died in a hypothetical election battle but Ossoff will lead several other hypothetical candidates, including Greene, if the 2026 selection is held today. (Like a poll about the election of more than a year, there are still many that can change.)

And at least some republican may personally praise his decision.

“I think most of the Republic of Georgia – they are happy to see it [announcement]. They know that he has a general election problem because it becomes a campfire and because of his personality in public, “Mahoney said, adding that the Georgian Republican party is likely to find candidates who can clean up support, collect money, and consolidate the base.

“I think for the list of candidates now, there is more comfort that they will be able to win the nomination, to win the general, the most important here – there is no real prize to become a candidate. You must win the general election to become a senator.”

Greene has dismissed a concern that he can win in the general election but not a general election throughout the state in Georgia.

“They said the same thing about Donald Trump when he ran in 2016, and they said the same thing about it in 2024. People in Georgia, they knew it was a lie,” Greene told reporters on Wednesday.

He added at his post on Friday, “Beating Jon Ossoff? It will be easy.”

NRSC has indicated that it will consider involved in the selection of senate preliminary based on cases per case. Scott, who sets NRSC, Tell Fox News In February, “Whatever is the best interests of voters in each state, I will make a country-country’s decision on how we play and where we play.”

“The Republican party works as a team with President Trump to give to the American people, protect our majority in 2026, and ask for accountability for the Democratic Senate and Candidates in Georgia, Michigan and New Hampshire for their radical priorities, outside the touch,” NRSC Communication Director Joanna Rodriguez said in a statement to ABC News.

On the other hand, Democrats have celebrated Kemp’s decision, thinking that it puts them in a strong position to face anyone who challenges Ossoff. Democrats also say they think they can expand their senate maps, and that they intend to play in as many seats as they can.

But the Democratic Party, because it faced a low approval rating and continued to digest its major losses in 2024, faced a very challenging senate map in 2026.

Many senate seats for elections are in countries that tend to be republic, and Democrats face the prospect of maintaining Ossoff seats in Georgia, as well as seats in Michigan and New Hampshire where the Democratic incumbent retire.

“The Democratic Senate was positioned to win seats in 2026 because the midterm reaction was driven by an increase in costs and threats to social security and Medicaid dragged the Republican senate candidate and placed their majority at risk,” Maeve Coyle, Director of Communication for the Democratic Senator Campaign Committee, told ABC News in a statement.

But some democrats are less bullish. Governor Minnesota Team Walz, who was a friend of Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, said it was new that he did not feel confident Democrats would be able to win the Senate in 2026.

“I think we will take back the DPR. I am very pessimistic about the senate, just honest with you,” he said during a lecture in April at the Harvard Institute of Politics.

ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd, Lalee Ibssa and Jay O’Brien contributed to this report.