Former President Donald Trump moved to bury the hatchet with Gov. Brian Kemp after he revived his long-running feud with the Georgia Republican at a rally in Atlanta earlier this month.
Trump thanked the second-term Republican governor on social media Thursday “for all of your help and support in Georgia, where a win is so important” for his reelection bid.
His social media post came shortly after Kemp went on Fox News to reaffirm his support for Trump’s comeback bid. The appearance coincided with the final day of the Democratic National Convention, where Georgia Democrats played a key role.
President Joe Biden narrowly captured the state in 2020, becoming the first Democrat to do so in nearly three decades, and polls show Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump in a tight race in a state Republicans consider crucial to their White House hopes.
But at his Atlanta rally in early August, Trump pummeled the Georgia Republican and his wife with attacks so scathing, and surprising, that local GOP officials worried aloud they risked Trump’s chances in the battleground state. Kemp responded to “leave my family out of it” but remained publicly support of Trump.
Since then, Republicans were engaged in behind-the-scenes efforts to calm the waters. Earlier Thursday, Trump running mate JD Vance said during a stop in Valdosta that he spoke with Kemp “very briefly” and tried to patch up a lingering one-sided feud.
“I read the headlines. Brian Kemp and Donald Trump have had some disagreements,” Vance told reporters. “I can 100% guarantee you that Brian Kemp is behind this ticket. He wants us to win.”
In his segment with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Kemp largely repeated a message that he’s echoed throughout the campaign.
“We’ve got to win. We’ve got to win from the top of the ticket on down,” he said. “I’ve been saying consistently for a long time we cannot afford another four years of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. And I think Kamala Harris and Tim Walz would be even worse.”
He added: “We need to send Donald Trump back to the White House.”
Republicans see Kemp as pivotal to Trump’s presidential bid, and not just because he regularly polls as the most popular politician in Georgia. Kemp also controls a vaunted political machine and has proven appeal to a decisive block of swing voters. His operation is mostly deployed to a handful of swing legislative districts.
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
Trump and Kemp have a long, fraught past that worsened after the then-president accused the governor of betraying the party when he refused to take steps to overturn his election defeat.
But after Kemp defeated a Trump-backed challenger in 2022 and the two clashed on and off through 2023, the vitriol seemed to die down as the campaign for president heated up.
There’s good reason why. The term-limited governor may seek another elected position when his term in office ends in early 2027. And though Kemp’s allies say he’s more likely to run for president than U.S. Senate, he doesn’t want to risk being painted as a lukewarm conservative in a GOP primary.
And though Kemp acknowledged he didn’t vote for Trump in Georgia’s presidential primary, casting a blank ballot instead, he has consistently said that he would back him in November and traveled to the Republican National Convention to repeat that message.
Then came the Aug. 3 rally in downtown Atlanta, when Trump told thousands of attendees at Georgia State University that Kemp was a “bad guy” and “disloyal.” He tried to brand him with a nickname — “Little Brian Kemp” — and criticized his wife, Marty.
The viciousness of Trump’s tirade, which lasted about 10 minutes, caught Kemp and his allies off guard. And senior Republicans openly worried it could exact lasting damage as Harris closes the gap in polls and analysts declare the state a “toss-up.”
On Thursday, GOP leaders had a sunnier take. Georgia GOP Chair Josh McKoon said “there can be no doubt” that state Republicans are united to win up and down the Georgia ballot.
“Nov. 5 can’t get here fast enough,” he said, “so we can provide Georgians with the relief they desperately need from the failed policies of Kamala Harris.”
Trump, too, seemed satisfied. When he dialed into Fox News late Thursday, he was asked about his relationship with Kemp. He called him a “very good man.”
“He was interviewed by Sean Hannity and he was very nice and he said he wants Trump to win and he’s going to work with me 100%,” he said. “And I think we’re going to have a very good relationship with Brian Kemp.”
Staff writer David Wickert contributed to this report.
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