Kemp appointed a very rich campaign donor that everyone knew couldn’t win.
We can’t see in their minds but I have to think Isakson and Kemp did all this on purpose.
Isakson did not have to retire when he did. Kemp did not have to appoint a sure loser. But both happened with knowledge of the most likely outcome.
Kelly Loeffler was appointed to Isakson's seat for two reasons:
1. She's a woman (notice how many of the House seats the GOP picked up in 2020 were won by female candidates).
2. She was independently wealthy, which meant she could bring a whole lot of money to her own campaign and let the national GOP Senate campaign funds be used elsewhere.
Item #2 was particularly important because the 2020 election was only to fill the remainder of Isakson's original term in office -- which ends in 2022. So the national GOP leadership wanted someone in that seat who could self-finance TWO Senate campaigns in three years.
I really like Collins, but if he had been appointed to that seat he would have been a useless senator because he would have spent most of his time running around raising money ... which meant he'd also be selling out his constituents on behalf of his financial backers.