ATLANTA (AP) 鈥 Donald Trump picked a new fight Saturday with Georgia's Republican governor as he campaigned in the key swing state where he's looking to avenge his narrow 2020 loss 鈥 a defeat he continues to blame on GOP officials for not giving into his false theories of election fraud.
Trump attacked Gov. Brian Kemp on his social media site before his rally and said Kemp should be 鈥渇ighting Crime, not fighting Unity and the Republican Party.鈥 He also criticized Kemp's wife, Marty, for saying she would write in her husband's name for president this fall instead of voting for the Republican nominee.
At Saturday's rally, Trump assailed Kemp in a roughly 10-minute tirade, blaming him for his loss to Democratic President and for not stopping a local district attorney from prosecuting him and several associates for his efforts to overturn the results.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a bad guy. He鈥檚 a disloyal guy. And he's a very average governor," Trump said. 鈥淟ittle Brian, little Brian Kemp. Bad guy.鈥
On X, Kemp told Trump to 鈥渓eave my family out of it鈥 and urged him to stop 鈥渆ngaging in petty personal insults, attacking fellow Republicans, or dwelling on the past.鈥
Georgia is likely to see another closely contested election as both campaigns push hard in the state, with Democrats riding a new wave of enthusiasm after Biden dropped his reelection bid and endorsed Vice President . To win this time, Trump will likely need the support both of Kemp's political operation and from moderate and conservative voters who aren't as committed to him as members of his base.
Going to Atlanta put Trump in the state鈥檚 largest media market, including suburbs and exurbs that were traditional Republican strongholds but have become more competitive as they鈥檝e diversified and grown in population. Thousands of supporters packed the same arena for a Harris rally days earlier.
Draic Coakley, a 23-year-old who works in the trucking industry and drove from Heflin, Alabama, just across the western Georgia border to attend his third Trump rally, said he believes Trump 鈥渟ees people like me,鈥 while 鈥淏iden and Harris, well, are part of what I think of as the elite.鈥
鈥淧resident Trump may be a billionaire, but it鈥檚 OK to be rich,鈥 Coakley said. 鈥淗e gets us. He just gets us, and he gets the country.鈥
Biden beat Trump in the state by 11,779 votes in 2020. Trump Georgia鈥檚 Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to 鈥渇ind鈥 enough votes to change the outcome and his allies tried to present slates of so-called 鈥渇ake electors鈥 that could replace the Democratic voters Biden won.
Trump was later indicted in Georgia for his efforts to overturn the election, but the case remains on hold while courts decide to prosecute it.
Kemp that Biden won four years ago and repeatedly rejected efforts by Trump allies to replace them. He's since proven to be the rare Republican nationally who could hold his ground against Trump without sacrificing his power or popularity, with 63% of Georgians approving of his job performance in a June poll conducted for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Kemp won the governor鈥檚 office narrowly in 2018 after garnering Trump鈥檚 endorsement. But Trump backed a primary rival against Kemp in 2022 鈥 former Sen. David Perdue, who spoke at Saturday鈥檚 rally. Kemp trounced Perdue on his way to defeating Democrat Stacey Abrams, a national star in her party, by 7.5 percentage points, a veritable blowout in a battleground state.
Kemp will chair the Republican Governors Association for the 2026 election cycle, when he is leaving office. And he鈥檚 widely known to be national Republicans鈥 top choice to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in that midterm cycle.
Kemp has said he didn鈥檛 vote for anyone in this year鈥檚 primary but will vote for the Republican ticket in November.
Erick Erickson, a prominent conservative host in Georgia, said of Trump, 鈥淗e can鈥檛 help himself.鈥
鈥淒onald Trump is really trying to build unity in Georgia by attacking the sitting Republican Governor whose ground game he will need to win and also that Governor鈥檚 wife,鈥 Erickson wrote on X. 鈥淎nd if he loses, it鈥檒l be because of this stuff, not a stolen election.鈥
Both parties are focusing on Georgia, a that just two weeks ago, Democrats had signaled they would sideline in favor of a heavier focus on the . 叠颈诲别苍鈥檚 decision to end his campaign and endorse Harris fueled Democratic hopes of an expanded electoral map.
Trump's Republican allies have urged him to focus on issues where they see an advantage over Harris, notably the economy and immigration. Trump attacked the likely Democratic nominee on both issues 鈥 also at times swinging from policy critiques to portraying Harris as 鈥渁 dumb version of Bernie Sanders,鈥 the progressive independent senator from Vermont.
Taking the stage first, Trump鈥檚 running mate, Ohio Sen. , credited Trump with 鈥渆xposing a massive coverup of the president鈥檚 mental incapacity鈥 during the fateful June debate that ultimately led to exit from the 2024 campaign, before lighting into Harris as 鈥渁 San Francisco liberal who is so far out of the mainstream.鈥
The Harris campaign called out Trump before the rally for what it predicted would be a speech in which he would 鈥渄eny the 2020 election results." It also criticized Trump for his announcement earlier that he set up with Biden's campaign before the president dropped out. Trump says he wants to debate Harris on Fox News instead.
After the rally, the Harris campaign issued a statement from former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who served alongside Kemp during the 2020 election and has since repudiated Trump.
鈥淚f you were able to see through Donald Trump鈥檚 incoherence and vindictiveness tonight, you saw a Donald Trump who does not care about uniting this country or speaking to the voters who will decide this election,鈥 Duncan said in the statement. 鈥淢illions of Americans are fed up with his grievance-filled campaign focused only on himself.鈥
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Meg Kinnard reported from Chapin, South Carolina. Barrow can be reached at and Kinnard can be reached at .
