'A lot of things can happen': Swing state GOP governor warns party to not be 'overconfident'

17 July 2024

One two-term Republican governor of a key battleground state says Republicans shouldn't think the 2024 election is a lock, and cautioned his party against taking votes for granted in November.

In a recent interview with Politico, Governor Brian Kemp (R-Georgia) indicated that the tone of inevitability being communicated at this year's Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was premature. Even though he has said he would vote for the GOP ticket (Kemp didn't mention former President Donald Trump by name), the Peach State Republican said he still has uncertainty about his party's chances this fall.

"I do not think Republicans need to be getting overconfident right now," Kemp said.

Kemp added that despite “coming off of the debate, coming off of really just all the things that happened last weekend,” it was his opinion that “[f]our or five months is an eternity in politics, and a lot of things can happen.”

Both President Joe Biden and the former president are in a statistical tie, according to a Washington Post/Ipsos poll released last week. This poll came well after the debate in which Biden was roundly critiqued for stumbling over his words and standing with his mouth agape during Trump's answers to moderators' questions. And despite nearly two dozen Congressional Democrats calling on the president to step aside and allow a younger nominee to be selected, Biden's polling hasn't shown any significant change in the past several weeks.

This suggests Kemp's assertions about the outcome of the 2024 election still being in doubt aren't mere conjecture. States thought to be Republican strongholds — like Florida, Ohio and Texas — all have competitive U.S. Senate races, and Florida has abortion on the ballot, which has never lost any initiative since the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade (even in ruby-red states like Kansas, Kentucky and Montana). Kempsaid that this week's RNC provides a narrow window for Republicans to convince voters in key states who are still on the fence to provide an uplifting and unifying message. He added that rehashing the 2020 election would be a major error.

"We got to quit looking in the rearview mirror," he told Politico. "We need to tell people what we're for. We need to stay focused on the future and tell people why they need to vote for us."

Following Saturday's near-assassination of the former president, Kemp said it was on Trump to demonstrate "grace and thanks" during this week's convention.

"I do think it's a great opportunity for the former president in a speech to reach a segment of people that maybe not have liked him all that much, just by tone alone.”

Click here to read Politico's report in full.

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