The governor of Georgia said he would “absolutely” support former President Donald Trump if he returned in 2024 as the Republican Party’s nominee.
Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, made the comments while appearing on Fox News’ Neil Cavuto on Wednesday, saying Trump’s ideas will be part of the GOP party for a long time into the future.
“Absolutely. I’m going to support the nominee, as I said again, I worked very hard for the president,” the governor told Cavuto after the Fox News anchor asked Kemp if he would support Trump as the party’s presidential nominee in 2024.
“I think his ideas will be part of our party for a long time in the future,” Kemp continued. “There’s a lot of great ideas out there. We’re not always going to get along, but I think the president deserves a lot of credit and he’s not going away.”
Kemp’s comments of support for the former president came several days after Trump strongly hinted at a potential run for the presidency during the closing speech of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday.
“Who knows, I may even decide to beat them for a third time,” Trump said, prompting a loud ovation from the audience.
Besides Kemp, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also recently publicly stated he will support Trump if he became the 2024 Republican Party nominee.
Trump and Kemp have been in a dispute in recent months over allegations of election fraud in Georgia during the 2020 presidential election. President Joe Biden was eventually certified as the winner by about 12,000 votes in the Peach State.
“He is an obstructionist who refuses to admit that we won Georgia, BIG! Also won the other Swing States,” Trump said at the time, calling for Kemp to resign from office.
Trump also recently expressed regret for endorsing the Georgia governor in an interview with Newsmax.
“In the case of Gov. Kemp, he was in last place or just about in last place. I endorsed him, he ended up winning the election and he certainly was not very effective for the Republican Party, to put it nicely,” Trump said. “So I think that was an endorsement that hurt us. But sometimes that will happen.”
Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.