Governor Brian Kemp (R-GA) has announced his intention to support former President Donald Trump in Georgia, according to Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC. Speaking on Fox News’s Hannity show Thursday night, Graham revealed that he attended a fundraiser in Atlanta the previous day where Kemp pledged his assistance to Trump against Vice President Kamala Harris.
In a video clip shared by Graham on Twitter, the South Carolina Senator expressed enthusiasm for Georgia’s Republican prospects, stating: “I just said ‘Go Dawgs’ on live television! We are going to win Georgia!” The tweet was captioned, “How badly do I want Republicans to win in November? I’ve never felt better about Georgia.
During the fundraiser, which was held at former Senator Kelly Loeffler’s (R-GA) home for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Graham stated that Kemp declared his commitment to Donald Trump. When [Kemp] spoke, the first thing out of his mouth, he looked at everybody in the room and said, ‘I want Donald Trump to win Georgia. I’m all in for Donald Trump. I’m going to give him my political machine,'” Graham recalled.
Kemp went on to discuss his plans to aid Trump’s campaign in Georgia, stating, “I’ve got a great ground game, Imma put money behind it, and we’re going to win Georgia for Trump because Harris is a disaster for Georgia.” The event reportedly raised $1,000,000 for the NRSC.
Georgia’s political landscape has seen significant changes in recent years. In 2016, Donald Trump won the state over Hillary Clinton by 5.1 percentage points. However, in 2020, Trump narrowly lost to Joe Biden by less than a quarter of one percent. The 2022 midterms saw an extremely close U.S. Senate race between Sen. Raphael Warnock and Heisman Trophy-winning football player Herschel Walker. The election went to a run-off as both candidates failed to break the 50 percent threshold, with Warnock winning the runoff.
Despite the close races, Governor Kemp managed to secure a comfortable victory in the gubernatorial race in 2022, taking 53.4 percent of the vote against Democrat Stacey Abrams at 45.9 percent. As of Friday afternoon, FiveThirtyEight’s polling average showed Trump with a narrow edge over Harris in the peach state, registering at 45.8 percent while she sat at 45.2 percent.