Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp said the tone of inevitability of a victory for his party that has been communicated at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is premature.
“I don’t think Republicans should get too complacent right now,” he said. In his view, “four or five months is an eternity in politics, and a lot can happen.”
Both President Biden and former President Trump are statistically tied, according to a poll by the Washington Post/Ipsos published last week.
This poll came well after the debate in which Biden was harshly criticized for stumbling over his words and gaping. And despite nearly two dozen Democrats in Congress calling on him to step aside and allow a younger candidate to be selected, Biden’s polls have shown no significant change in recent weeks.
According to analysts, this suggests that Kemp’s claims about the outcome of the 2024 election are not mere conjecture. States that are run as Republican strongholds (Florida, Ohio and Texas) have competitive Senate races. Florida has abortion on the ballot, which has never lost an initiative since the overturn of Roe. v. Wade in 2022.
Kemp said the Republican National Convention offers a narrow window for Republicans to convince voters in key swing states to send an uplifting and unifying message.
He added that a repeat of the 2020 election would be a huge mistake. “We need to stop looking in the rearview mirror,” he said. “We need to tell people what we’re here for. We need to stay focused on the future and tell people why they need to vote for us.”
Following the attack on the former president on Saturday, Kemp said it was up to Trump to demonstrate “grace and appreciation” during this week’s convention. “I think it’s a great opportunity for the former president to reach out in a speech to a segment of people who maybe didn’t like him very much, just because of the tone.”
