· Anyone who closely follows Georgia political events knows Gov. Brian Kemp was greeted with both cheers and boos during Saturday’s state Republican Party convention on Jekyll Island. This writer, who was present, thought the attendees seemed split half and half between approval and disapproval. A significant number of Republicans (who knows how many?) resent Kemp for not initially taking former President Donald Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud seriously. On the other hand, Kemp got his strongest ovation for having Georgia become the first state to significantly reopen for business in 2020 amid the COVID-19 crisis.
· How Kemp’s mixed convention welcome impacts the governor’s 2022 re-election remains to be seen. Only one other candidate so far has opted to run against him: Democrat-turned-Republican Vernon Jones. Last year former state legislator Jones emerged as a cheerleader for then-President Donald Trump and his policies. Trump and Kemp, of course, have been feuding since last November. And while the former president has not formally endorsed Jones he could support Jones or another anti-Kemp gubernatorial candidate (if there is one) or remain neutral.
· Kemp was introduced for his convention speech by former U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., one of Trump’s strongest legislative supporters over the past four years. A Kemp-Perdue alliance helps shore up the governor’s support, although it is clear the large majority of the state party’s voter base remains strongly pro-Trump. For example, staunch pro-Trump state GOP Chairman David Shafer was overwhelmingly re-elected to his post on Saturday.
· The governor, in his convention speech, wisely ignored criticism from the former president and didn’t attack him. He instead underscored the need for GOP unity and slammed the radical stance of the Democrats egged on by the liberal media and Hollywood (a theme which unites Republicans of all stripes).
· An interesting question on the minds of several delegates interviewed was this: Could Trump and Kemp bury the hatchet if Kemp were nominated again to be the Republican gubernatorial candidate? Who knows the answer? But as someone quipped: “Remember in 2016 (Senator) Ted Cruz was attacked as ‘lying Ted’ by Trump. Yet they evolved to became allies against the Democrats and Trump later said that he ‘loved Ted.’” So if Trump were to grudgingly bury the hatchet with Kemp after the 2022 primary and Kemp ran and was re-elected to a second term, the former president could rightly brag that he endorsed Kemp twice and that Kemp won twice!
