'He could run the table': Brian Kemp supporters hope to change his mind about not running for president
If former GOP strategist Rick Wilson's predictions are correct, former President Donald Trump will continue to dominate the GOP's 2024 presidential field and ultimately receive the nomination. Trump polls much higher than other Republicans who have entered the race, including Nikki Haley (former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations), former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and talk radio host Larry Elder.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appears to be gearing up for a presidential run but hasn't made any type of official announcement. Recent polls of hypothetical Trump/DeSantis matchups show Trump ahead of the Floridian by 13 percent (the Wall Street Journal), 14 percent (Quinnipiac) and 32 percent (Fox News).
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has said that he isn't planning to run for president in 2024. But according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) report published on May 5, "key Republicans" are "nudging" Kemp to "be open to a draft movement as former President Donald Trump seems to be dominating a low-energy GOP field."
READ MORE: 'Sour grapes': Brian Kemp urges RNC to move on from 'unproven claims of election fraud'
One those Republicans is veteran conservative strategist Mike Murphy. On the "Hacks On Tap" podcast, Murphy said it was "almost a tragedy" that Kemp says he isn't running.
Murphy believes that if Kemp waits until June to enter the presidential race, he could "run the damn table as a late discovery."
The strategist argued, "What he needs is some of the money to come see him. Because I hear that's what he's worried about.…Two days in New York, and he would want to run for president because he would get $30 million in commitments. But apparently, nobody has explained to him how that works…. Because Georgia is a bellwether state — if you can win here, you can win nationally."
Many far-right MAGA Republicans detest Kemp for certifying now-President Joe Biden's victory in Georgia in 2020 and pushing back against Trump's false and repeatedly debunked claim that the election was stolen from him. But that may have worked to Kemp's advantage when he successfully ran for reelection in 2022, defeating Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams by 8 percent.
Democrats performed much better than expected in the 2022 midterms, winning gubernatorial races in key swing states that included Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona and Michigan. A long list of Trump-backed hyper-MAGA candidates lost statewide races, but more traditional conservatives performed much better in swing states — including Kemp.
Liberal Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, however, was also reelected in Georgia, defeating far-right MAGA Republican challenger Herschel Walker and showing how much of a battleground state it has become.
READ MORE: 'Squabbles and betrayals': These former Trumpworld insiders are now all in for Ron DeSantis
Read the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's full report at this link (subscription required).
