Pence To Rally With Kemp On Eve of May 24 GA Primary

GEORGIA — Describing Gov. Brian Kemp as “one of the most successful conservative governors in America,” former Vice President Mike Pence announced he will join Kemp for a rally on the eve of Georgia’s May 24 primary.

Pence’s support of Kemp — place and time yet to be announced — will add fire to an already heated primary race for the Republican nomination between the incumbent governor and former U.S. Sen. David Perdue.

Most of that heat has come from former President Donald Trump. Once a Kemp supporter, Trump has actively campaigned against Kemp ever since the governor refused to overturn election results for him in the 2020 general election. Perdue has since parroted Trump’s false claims of voter fraud, saying during one debate with Kemp that the 2020 election was “rigged and stolen.”

So far, siding with Trump seems not to have helped Perdue. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Perdue has raised only $1.7 million in the three months leading up to the primary. Kemp, on the other hand, has raised about $10.7 million, nearly six times as much.

Perdue also lags far behind Kemp in most polls. A recent survey by the Atlanta newspaper shows Kemp with 53 percent of the primary vote and Perdue with only 27 percent. Perdue’s only hope is to keep Kemp with less than 50 percent of the vote in order to force a runoff.

A FOX 5/InsiderAdvantage poll of the race taken April 28 through May 1 gave Kemp a 16-percent lead in the race, according to Real Clear Politics. The poll showed 54 percent of likely voters supported Kemp, while 38 percent were behind Perdue.

And a WXIA-TV/SurveyUSA poll conducted April 22-27 showed Kemp with 56 percent of the likely votes to 31 percent support for Perdue.

Republicans Siding With Kemp

Pence is the latest Republican to break ranks with Trump in backing Kemp. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, current Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and current Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts have already announced visits to Georgia later this month.

In February, Pence said Trump was wrong to insist that Pence had the power to unilaterally overturn the results of the 2020 election — a power vice presidents do not possess. In a separate speech before top Republican donors, Pence urged the GOP to move on from Trump's election grievances and said there was "no room in this party for apologists" for Vladimir Putin after Trump praised the Russian leader's maneuvering as genius before his brutal invasion of Ukraine.

"Elections are about the future," Pence said in March. "My fellow Republicans, we can only win if we are united around an optimistic vision for the future based on our highest values. We cannot win by fighting yesterday's battles, or by relitigating the past."

In an interview with radio host John Fredericks on the conservative Real America's Voice, Trump declined to criticize Pence when asked about his decision to campaign with Kemp.

"Well, Mike is trying to get involved and he's a very nice man," he said. "But he really let us all down."

The former president, meanwhile, continued to pan Christie, Ducey and Ricketts for supporting Kemp.

"We have to fight these people," Trump said Friday.

Earlier this week, Trump had said their support "tells you all you need to know about what you are getting in Georgia — just a continuation of bad elections and a real RINO (Republican In Name Only) if you vote for Brian Kemp."

"Maybe the 'R' in RINO really stands for reelected," Christie quipped back.

Trump Backing Perdue is a Risk

The Georgia race is a gamble for Trump, who notched a major victory in Ohio earlier this month when J.D. Vance, the candidate he endorsed, came from behind to win a competitive GOP Senate primary. But last week, his pick for governor in Nebraska, Charles Herbster, lost his primary amid groping allegations. And Trump faces further challenges ahead, including in Pennsylvania this week, where his pick for Senate, celebrity heart surgeon Mehmet Oz, is locked in a tight, three-way race.

Trump's political action committee last month gave $500,000 to a group running attack ads against Kemp — his first major spending in any race this cycle, despite entering the year with more than $120 million in cash. Trump rallied for Perdue and his other favored candidates in Georgia in March, but hasn't scheduled a return.

But the Republican Governors Association has spent millions to support Kemp, exacerbating Perdue's financial disadvantage. Christie, Ducey and Ricketts are all supposed to stump for Kemp in the closing days as part of that push.

In-state Republicans are also rallying to Kemp. Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, whose relationship to Kemp was rocky in the first 18 months of Kemp's term, said Thursday that "Gov. Kemp is my governor, and I'm going to support him," on Thursday after the governor signed the upcoming state budget in Blue Ridge, Ralston's hometown. Ralston said Kemp has "taken a lot of unfair hits."

The winner will face Democrat Stacey Abrams, who has raised more than $20 million so far and had $8 million in cash on April 30.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.