Former Vice President Mike Pence announced on Friday that he will join the campaign trail on behalf of Gov. Brian Kemp (R–GA) on May 23rd – a major rebuttal of Donald Trump and his roundly debunked allegations that the 2020 election was stolen.
Trump has long directed his ire at Kemp, ridiculing the sitting governor for certifying the 2020 election and standing behind Joe Biden’s narrow victory in the state, something Trump pressured officials to overturn.
“Brian Kemp is one of the most successful conservative governors in America,” Pence said in a Friday. “Brian Kemp is my friend, a man dedicated to faith, family and the people of Georgia. I am proud to offer my full support for four more years of Brian Kemp as governor of the great state of Georgia!”
Pence’s support for Kemp serves as his latest public rebuttal of the former president, having publicly stated in February that Trump was “wrong” to believe he could overturn the 2020 presidential election on Jan. 6.
Trump has endorsed Kemp’s primary opponent, former Senator David Perdue (R-GA), who has run on the message that the 2020 election was stolen from both him and Trump.
Steve Bannon, the architect of Trump’s 2016 presidential run, told a radio host in mid-April that the stakes for Trump and the effort to overturn the 2020 election are particularly high in Georgia.
“And I keep saying if Kemp wins, it’s going to be a rallying point for the Never Trump forces. It just is. That’s the reality, I think, that has to be dealt with,” Bannon said on the John Fredricks Show.
“Plus, if you have this, Mo Brooks is already out in Alabama, so the 24th will be a culmination of, the next 60 days could be very painful,” he added.
Kemp is currently up in the polls, with a double-digit lead over Perdue ahead of the May 24th primary in Georgia.
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