Watch Ossoff criticize Trump and his opponents on anti-corruption platform
Sen. Jon Ossoff is using the Atlanta rally to build his re-election campaign around fighting corruption in Washington.
The Senate race is heating up in Georgia, with two Republican senators facing off against incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in a June runoff in November.
U.S. Rep. Mike Collins and former college football coach Derek Dooley received the highest percentages of votes during the May midterms. Mr. Collins had led in the polls for several weeks before Election Day, but Mr. Dooley made a last-minute catch-up and opened up a significant lead. The final election will be held on June 16th.
Dooley’s fourth quarter momentum was thanks in part to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. The governor is a strong supporter of Dooley and remains focused on the Senate race as the state faces another major runoff election to replace him. According to reports, Mr. Kemp’s political action committee has poured millions of dollars into Mr. Dooley’s campaign, and the two families have been friends since childhood.
Now, the election has sparked accusations of possible paid politics, with complicated ties between the Kemp and Dooley families dating back to Kemp’s earliest days in the state Legislature.
Here’s what you need to know about this controversy.
Dooley’s brother issued a state contract for the school’s security system.
According to a report published by 11Alive, a company owned by Daniel, Derek Dooley’s brother and a close personal friend of Kemp, made millions of dollars by winning state contracts to install security systems in Georgia schools.
Kemp reportedly talked about a company called Centegix during events such as a visit to Douglas County schools attended by Daniel Dooley in 2019. He later helped pass legislation to provide funding to schools for safety purposes.
School safety grants were issued to public school districts across the state to cover the Centegix systems, which were subsequently installed across Georgia. As of August 2025, 90% of Georgia public schools are using Dooley products, WSB-TV reports.
Mr. Dooley reportedly donated at least $100,000 to Mr. Kemp’s political action committee, Hardworking Americans, and is currently funding Derek Dooley’s Senate campaign.
A spokesperson for the governor said in a statement to 11Alive that the safety grants were given to local school districts and were not directly administered by the state.
“Decisions on how to spend these grants, which vendors to choose and what security methods to choose are left solely to local authorities, and contracts are between local authorities and their selected recipients,” a spokesperson told the media outlet.
11Alive noted in its latest report that there is no evidence that Kemp steered the district into the deal with Centegix.
Mr. Dooley has not publicly addressed the accusations.
Purchaser of Kemp’s property later issued state contract and position
However, the controversy surrounding the governor does not end there.
According to reports in the Courier Georgia and elsewhere, Mr. Kemp (a businessman before becoming a politician) entered the governor’s mansion in 2019 with a large amount of debt, and his company, Shelter Rock, was struggling to unload a series of properties along Strom Thurmond Lake, or Clark’s Hill Lake, on the Georgia-South Carolina border.
Two years into his first term, the properties were sold for more than the 2020 asking price and most of the debt was wiped out in a series of multimillion-dollar deals, according to reports. Records show the deed and transaction were signed by Kemp.
The buyers of those properties, including Donald Richards, president of Network Cabling Infrastructures, were then issued state contracts for security and surveillance products for Georgia government agencies and received payments of more than $2 million from the state, the report said.
Kemp is also accused of helping pass a lottery machine bill (HB 383) to benefit another property buyer and appointing a third buyer to the State Charter School Board. The buyer later donated to Dooley’s Senate campaign, according to the Courier Georgia.
A representative for the governor said in a statement to the magazine that the deal was designed to “separate the governor from a long-standing business partnership” and reduce Kemp’s financial involvement with buyers he would later work with, rather than colluding with them.
“Additionally, the Governor has no involvement in state contracting or procurement processes, and strict laws are in place prohibiting such involvement. HB 383 received broad bipartisan support and went through a thorough review process before the Governor decided to witness it,” a spokesperson told the outlet. “The governor holds himself to the highest standards in distinguishing between his personal business and his role as chief executive officer, as evidenced by his misunderstanding of (Courier Georgia’s) exact transactions.”
Georgia lawmakers call for investigation during special session
At the end of the 2026 session, the state Legislature adjourned with legislation and election reform decisions remaining on the agenda as Congress left Atlanta.
Shortly afterward, Kemp called for a special session of Congress, scheduled to begin June 17. In a revised proclamation, Kemp said the special session would address changes to Georgia’s voting process after the 2020 election (President Trump has long claimed that voter fraud in Fulton County led to Joe Biden’s loss), possible redistricting after the Louisiana Supreme Court decision, and ratification of Georgia’s gas tax suspension, which expired earlier this week.
Now, Augusta state legislators are leading the charge to add investigations into the Kemp and Dooley families to the June agenda.
State Rep. Carlton Howard and state Rep. Brian Prince said at a news conference Friday that Mr. Kemp and Mr. Dooley refused to answer questions about possible financial entanglements, even though they appeared united on the campaign trail (a statement from the governor’s office was sent to news outlets).
“While this plan raises obvious questions about the potential for corruption and paid politics, Mr. Dooley and Mr. Kemp are unashamed that in the midst of the Republican U.S. Senate runoff elections, the governor continues to tour the state doing everything he can to elect his longtime friend through this corruption,” Howard said. “Instead of transparency, we got silence.”
Representatives called for an independent investigation into Daniel Dooley’s company and no-bid government contracts during the special session. Howard said at least 40 members of Congress from both sides of the aisle signed the statement.
“This pay-to-play type of politics requires us to look at what’s going on, who’s being paid, and again, why.” Prince said. “We want something independent so we can show the people of Georgia what’s going on right now in Georgia.”
Eileen Wright is an Atlanta Connect reporter for USA Today’s Deep South Connect team, covering midterm races in Georgia. X Find her at @IreneEWright or email her at ismith@usatodayco.com.
