Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) rebuked both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden while speaking in Lexington, Virginia, on Saturday.
“This election should be about results, not personalities,” Kemp said during Washington and Lee University’s Mock Convention, created in 1908 to model the “Nominating Convention of the party out-of-power in the White House” — the GOP for this year’s event.
“It should be about the future of our country, not a race to the bottom,” he said. “Because if this general election becomes a debate about who can outlast the other 80-year-old politician, the American people will lose.”
With the Republican primary season well underway and Trump winning each state to date, Kemp slammed those, including Trump, who have continued to focus on the 2020 election, in which Trump made a “perfect call” to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to win the state.
“We have to focus on the future, not look in the rearview mirror at past elections,” he said. “The fact is, the voters who are going to decide this election are tired of hearing about 2020.”
The former president was indicted in the racketeering case in Fulton County, Georgia, by District Attorney Fani Willis in August 2023. The case focuses on Trump’s efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 election, including his calls to Raffensperger. However, Willis has been called on by Trump and co-defendant Mike Roman to recuse herself from the case following the discovery of her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she hired for the prosecution team.
Following Kemp’s refusal to back Trump in his challenge of the Georgia election results, the former president split with Kemp, supporting David Perdue in the 2022 gubernatorial election for Georgia. Kemp defeated Perdue 72% to 22% in the May 2022 Republican primary.
Kemp also called out the Democratic Party and Biden for governing “toward gridlock and unfortunately partisanship” while noting: “The real question before Republicans is what are we going to do about it.”
“As bad as Joe Biden is, this general election will not be a cakewalk,” he said, noting intraparty fighting in Congress over the border and defense spending. “Just under 200 miles away from where we are today, in our nation’s capital, too many of our so-called leaders on both sides are more concerned with getting on cable news than delivering results for the people of this country.”
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Though neither Trump nor Biden has won the party nomination yet, each is likely headed for the general election, with Trump leading former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley by double digits and Biden leading Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) by the same.
The convention began on Friday, Feb. 9, and wrapped up Saturday evening. Speakers throughout the event included Donald Trump Jr., Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Charlie Kirk, and former Gov. Asa Hutchinson, among others.
