EXCLUSIVE — Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp insists “the road to the White House is going to run through Georgia” and stated he’s centered on the long run, downplaying former President Donald Trump’s tirade towards him earlier this month as a “small distraction that’s in the past.”
Kemp, the favored two-term conservative governor of the essential southeastern battleground state, emphasised in an unique nationwide interview with Fox Information Digital that “there’s no path for former President Trump to win or any Republican … to get to 270 [electoral votes] without Georgia.”
Kemp, interviewed Tuesday on the eve of Vice President Harris’ two-day bus swing via Georgia, stated his state “should be one that we win if we have all the mechanics that we need. And I’m working hard to help provide those in a lot of ways and turn the Republican vote out.”
“It’s my belief that we cannot afford four more years of [President] Joe Biden and Kamala Harris or Kamala Harris and [Minnesota Gov.] Tim Walz, which I think would probably be worse than even Biden and Harris were,” Kemp stated.
2024 COUNTDOWN: TRUMP CRISSCROSSING CAMPAIGN TRAIL WITH 10 WEEKS UNTIL ELECTION DAY
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia is interviewed by Fox Information Digital on June 3, 2024, in Chalmette, La. (Fox Information/Paul Steinhauser)
The governor was interviewed a few days after Trump praised Kemp in a social media publish “for all of your help and support in Georgia, where a win is so important to the success of our Party and, most importantly, our Country.”
“I look forward to working with you, your team, and all of my friends in Georgia to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” the Republican presidential nominee added.
The feedback from Trump had been a serious change of tune on the subject of Georgia’s governor.
For 2 years after his 2020 election defeat to President Biden, which included a razor-thin loss in Georgia, Trump attacked Kemp for failing to overturn the election ends in his state.
WASH, RINSE, REPEAT: WHY JD VANCE IS CONCENTRATING ON THESE 3 STATES
Trump toned down the criticism in 2022 after Kemp crushed Trump-backed former Sen. David Perdue within the state’s GOP gubernatorial major.
Earlier this month, Trump went on a 10-minute tirade towards Kemp at a rally in Atlanta simply blocks from the Georgia State Capitol. Trump blamed the governor not just for failing to overturn the 2020 vote depend but additionally for not stopping a county prosecutor from indicting the previous president for his makes an attempt to reverse the outcomes.
Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance of Ohio greets former President Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, throughout a marketing campaign rally at Georgia State College in Atlanta on Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photograph/John Bazemore)
“He’s a bad guy. He’s a disloyal guy. And he’s a very average governor,” Trump stated. “Little Brian. Little Brian Kemp. Bad guy.”
Kemp instructed Fox Information, “I’m not sure exactly what happened going into the rally. I’ve seen a lot of different stories and people’s explanations of what happened.”
“To me, that was a small distraction that’s in the past,” Kemp added.
And Kemp stated Republicans “need to stay focused on the future. … We need to be telling people why they should vote for us, what we’re going to do to make things better than they are right now. And there’s a host of issues that I think you could contrast Kamala Harris and her record.
“To me, that’s what we have to keep centered on, not some dustup from two or three weeks in the past.”
HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING IN 2024 ELECTION
Asked about Trump’s reversal last Thursday, Kemp said, “It’s important to ask him these questions. I’ve been constant for actually the final couple of years that I used to be going to assist the ticket, whoever our nominee was, in Georgia. That’s precisely what I’m doing, what I’ve been doing.”
But Trump’s statement came moments after Kemp appeared on Fox News Channel and reiterated to host Sean Hannity that “we have to ship Donald Trump again to the White Home.”
Asked Tuesday if he and Trump had connected since last week, Kemp said, “I haven’t talked to him.”
“I’ve talked to a number of people, and I feel all people has a great understanding of the place all people is and understands my place has not modified,” Kemp said. “I’ve been supporting him and the entire ticket in Georgia, and I am nonetheless doing that and can proceed to do this via November.”
Republican strategists agree that to recapture Georgia, Trump will need assistance from Kemp’s well-oiled and funded political machine to turn out GOP voters.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Kemp said he’s “working exhausting” to “flip the Republican vote out and make it possible for we win this state in November.”
“How that appears and the way that goes will actually be as much as form of how issues play out and what states are in play and who’s going the place and when,” Kemp added.
“I’ve received different tasks in my duties with the Republican Governors Affiliation, touring across the nation serving to to boost cash to win North Carolina and maintain New Hampshire in our column and likewise serving to our legislative races right here.”
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, right, joins fellow GOP governors at a Republican Governors Association news conference at an oil refinery in Chalmette, La., on June 3, 2024. (Fox News/Paul Steinhauser)
Kemp also acknowledged that he’s asked for legal advice from the state attorney general on whether he can remove from the state election board three conservative members on the five-person panel who championed and passed a controversial set of new rules that mandate extra requirements for county election boards to certify their results.
“We’ve requested the legal professional normal for an opinion on that on whether or not this might be an official criticism, if you’ll, and I’m ready to listen to again. So, I actually wouldn’t have the ability to remark an excessive amount of on that since we’re asking for authorized recommendation,” Kemp told Fox News.
Trump, who has been charged in Fulton County, Georgia, with election interference, praised the three members for pushing for the new rules and called them “pit bulls combating for honesty, transparency and victory.”
Georgia Democrats call the new rules a “concerted effort to subvert democracy” and have challenged them, arguing they could delay election certification and spark major disputes.
