Governor Brian Kemp (R) said he believes former President Donald Trump “can win Georgia” during an interview last Friday. Kemp added that he would support Trump, should he become the Republican nominee for president, despite the public feud between the men.
Kemp said he is willing to support the former president during the 2024 general election during an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Kemp described Trump as “a lot better than Biden,” adding that those “serving in the administration would be a lot better” than those tapped by the Biden White House.
Trump repeatedly branded Kemp a “coward” as the governor rebuked calls to examine claims of election fraud throughout the state after the 2020 election, and in his interview with AJC, Kemp insisted his potential support for Trump’s current White House bid “has nothing to do with being a coward” but is instead aimed at “winning and reversing the ridiculous, obscene positions of Joe Biden and this administration that” Kemp believes “are destroying our country.”
The governor also believes Trump can win Georgia, as he did in 2016, because Biden’s “approval ratings are so bad,” but said he believes discussing the 2020 election will harm Trump with Georgia voters.
“I also think he stands a very good chance of losing if he continues to talk about the stolen 2020 election,” Kemp told the outlet. He also said that Trump could lose by attacking “other good Republicans who don’t agree with him 100% of the time.”
Kemp, who has not endorsed a candidate and has largely avoided weighing in on the crowded race for the Republican nomination, said he wants a candidate “who can win” and will “work with everybody in Washington regardless of who they represent.”
“Regardless of where people are ideology-wise, if they can’t win, it doesn’t matter,” Kemp told AJC. “You can’t govern if you don’t win.”
Kemp ruled out a possible presidential bid for himself in July during an exclusive interview with CNN. As he did while speaking with AJC, Kemp used his CNN appearance to admonish Trump and his allies for discussing the 2020 election, warning that “if [Trump] continues to do that, he’s going to lose Georgia” in 2024.
Just prior to that interview, Fox 5 Atlanta reports Kemp shared the same message at the Republican National Committee’s donors’ retreat in Nashville, Tennessee.
The governor told AJC that he ultimately decided against running for president due to his contentious primary and general election in Georgia.
“I didn’t spend my whole reelection thinking about running for president,” said Kemp. “By the time I really got calmed down enough to think about that, we had too many candidates in the race. I think it would be detrimental to us winning for any Republican to get in right now — including myself.”
Despite his pledge to support Trump should he become the Republican nominee, Kemp recently opposed efforts to declare a special session to impeach or defund in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who indicted the former president on August 14.
Kemp described the legislative petition started by State Senator Clayton Moore (R-Trenton) as a “grifter scam” and dismissed the possibility of impeaching Willis.
One day after Trump was indicted, Kemp issued a statement insisting “[t]he 2020 election in Georgia was not stolen” and declaring “anyone with evidence of fraud has failed to come forward” to testify under oath. “The future of our country is at stake in 2024 and that must be our focus,” Kemp concluded.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Georgia Star News and a reporter for the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Gov. Biran Kemp” by Gov. Brian Kemp and “Donald Trump” is by Gage Skidmore CC2.0.
