EXCLUSIVE – Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp asserted “the road to the White House will go through Georgia.”
And Kemp, the popular two-term conservative governor of the key southeastern battleground state, insisted in an exclusive national interview with Fox News Digital that “there is no way for former President Trump to win, or the Republicans … without Georgia.”
Kemp, interviewed Tuesday night from Vice President Kamala Harris’ two-day bus swing through Georgia, said his country “should be one of the winners if we have all the mechanics we need. And I’m working hard to help provide them. in many ways and turn the Republican election.”
“It’s a belief that we can’t afford four more years of (President) Joe Biden and Kamala Harris or Kamala Harris and (Minnesota Gov.) Tim Walz, who I think will be worse than Biden and Harris,” Kemp said.
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Republican Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia is interviewed by Fox News Digital June 3, 2024, in Chalmette, La. (Fox News/Paul Steinhauser)
The governor was interviewed a few days after Trump praised Kemp in a social media post “for all your help and support in Georgia, winning is critical to the success of our Party and, most importantly, our State.”
“I look forward to working with you, your team, and all of our friends in Georgia to help MAKE AMERICA AGAIN!” the Republican presidential nomination was added.
Trump’s comments are a major turning point when it comes to the Georgia governor.
Two years after his 2020 election defeat to President Biden, which included a narrow loss in Georgia, Trump attacked Kemp for failing to overturn the election results in his state.
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Trump toned down that criticism in 2022, after Kemp defeated Trump-backed former Sen. David Perdue in the state’s GOP gubernatorial primary.
But earlier this month, Trump went on a 10-minute tirade against Kemp at a rally in Atlanta just blocks from the Georgia Capitol. Trump blamed the governor not only for failing to cancel the 2020 vote count, but also for not stopping the district attorney from indicting the former president for trying to overturn the results.
Candidate for vice president of the Republic of Sen. JD Vance of Ohio (left) greets former President Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, during a campaign rally at Georgia State University in Atlanta on August 3, 2024. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
“He’s a bad guy. He’s a disloyal guy. And he’s an average governor,” Trump said. “Little Brian. Little Brian Kemp. Bad guy.”
Kemp told Fox News, “I’m not sure exactly what happened at the rally. I’ve seen a lot of different stories and people’s explanations of what happened.”
“To me, it’s a little bit of a distraction from the past,” Kemp added.
And Kemp said Republicans “need to stay focused on the future. … We need to tell people why they should vote for us, what we’re going to do to make it better than it is now. And there’s a lot of issues. I think you can compare Kamala Harris and his recordings.
“For me, that’s what we have to focus on. There’s no dust from the last two or three weeks.”
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Asked about Trump’s reversal last Thursday, Kemp said, “You have to ask him what I did.
But Trump’s statement came some time after Kemp appeared on the Fox News Channel and reiterated to the host Sean Hannity that “we have to send Donald Trump back to the White House.”
Asked Tuesday if he and Trump had been in touch since last week, Kemp said, “I haven’t talked to him.”
“I’ve talked to a lot of other people, and I think everyone has a good understanding of everyone and knows my position hasn’t changed,” Kemp said. “I have supported him and the entire ticket in Georgia, and I still do and will continue to do so until November.”
Republican strategists agree that to win back Georgia, Trump will need help from Kemp’s already well-oiled and funded political machine to win over GOP voters.
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Kemp said he is “working hard” to “raise the Republican vote and make sure we win this state in November.”
“How it looks and how it goes will depend on how things go and what countries they play and who goes where and when,” Kemp added.
“I have other responsibilities in my job with the Republican Governors Association, traveling around the country helping to raise money to win North Carolina and capture New Hampshire in our column and also helping with legislative races here.”
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (right) joins GOP governors at a Republican Governors Association news conference at an oil refinery in Chalmette, La., June 3, 2024 (Fox News/Paul Steinhauser)
Kemp also admitted that he is seeking legal advice from the state attorney general on whether he can remove from the state election board three conservative members of the five-person panel that won the championship and pass a controversial new rule that mandates additional requirements for district elections. Board to certify the results.
“We have asked the public prosecutor for his opinion on whether this will be an official complaint, if you will, and I am waiting to hear back. So, I really will not be able to comment too much on this. because we are asking for legal advice,” said Kemp to Fox News.
Trump, who is indicted in Fulton County, Georgia, for election meddling, praised the three members for pushing the new rules and called them “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.”
Georgia Democrats called the new rules “a concerted effort to undermine democracy” and challenged them, arguing they could delay election certification and cause major disputes.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more in Fox News Digital’s election hub.
