Vance, Kemp say GOP is united as long-simmering Trump feud is relegated to the past

Republican Vice Presidential nominee J.D. Vance shared an Atlanta stage with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Monday night, where Vance made a call for conservative unity before a crowd of high-profile names and faithful conservatives.

“Think about the incredible team that we have. We have Brian Kemp, Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, Tulsi Gabbard, and Bobby Kennedy Jr. What an amazing team of patriots fighting for this country,” Vance said at a dinner for the Georgia Faith and Freedom Coalition, a conservative Christian lobbying group

“Of course, there’s a lot of disagreement between those five individuals I just named, and amazingly, amazingly, they’re all on Trump’s team for 2024, because we are the party of common sense,” he added. “We can disagree, and we’ve got to get common sense back in the White House, and that’s why we’re here.”

Kemp’s praise for Vance’s boss, former President Donald Trump, was subdued. His five-minute speech led with the importance of maintaining the Republican majority in the state House and Senate before mentioning the man who will be at the top of the ballot in November.

“This fight, as you know, does not stop at the state level. We have to expand our majority in Congress, take back control of the U.S. Senate, and send Donald Trump back to the White House,” he said. “The reason that we have to do that is because we know what the other side will do if they take control of the federal government.”

Kemp offered no praise for Trump or Vance but said a Vice President Kamala Harris presidency would bring more immigrants into the country and higher crime and taxes.

“The truth is the vice president is just another politician saying whatever they have to to win the election. That is what’s at stake this November. Not just one policy, not just one law. Kamala Harris wants to take our country farther away from its founding principles.”

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said at an Atlanta Faith & Freedom Coalition dinner that a Kamala Harris presidency would be bad for the economy and crime. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder

In his keynote speech, Vance, a converted Catholic, outlined the evolution of his own faith. He said he moved away from religion in college but came to rediscover it as an adult.

“I increasingly found the answers in the Christian faith that I discarded as a young man,” he said. “And that realization that the basic truths about being a good man, about being a good husband, about being a dedicated father, those truths found their best expression in the Christian faith of my grandmother.”

Vance said a second Trump administration would benefit Americans of all faiths, arguing that Trump would do better than Harris at fighting crime, stopping illegal immigration and lowering the price of goods.

But Vance told the conservative Christian crowd that Trump’s return to the White House would be especially good for people like them, saying that cultural conservatives will “always have a seat at the table in the Republican Party.”

“I stand here as the vice presidential nominee saying the Republican Party is proud to be the pro-life and the pro-family party,” he said. “Now we believe that human life is precious and every life is worthy of protection because we believe that every child, born and unborn, is created in the image of God. Now, following the Supreme Court’s landmark decision, we recognize that the obligation to help nurture and protect the women and the babies all over this country has only just begun.”

Vance pledged that will mean improving medical care for pregnant women and new mothers as well as enforcing “paternal responsibility.”

“We’re going to do new investments in counseling, in job training, and help with newborn expenses,” he said. “We’re going to do new investments in education and pregnancy care centers and so much more because we believe that this country must be more welcoming to families. And we’re committed to helping as many women as possible choose life and welcome new life into this world.”

Democrats have viewed abortion as a winning issue from them after the overturn of Roe v. Wade led to the dissolution of abortion rights in states including Georgia. The Faith and Freedom event came on the same day as a ProPublica report profiling the case of Amber Thurman, a Georgia woman who died in 2022 after presenting to a hospital with a rare complication from a medication abortion. Doctors waited 20 hours to perform a routine procedure to clear the fetal tissue from her uterus, called a dilation and curettage, or D&C, but it was too late, ProPublica reported.

Thurman’s death, which happened the month after the state’s six-week abortion ban took effect, represents the first time an abortion-related death has been officially deemed “preventable.”

As Vance was speaking, the DNC put out a press release detailing previous Vance statements on abortion as “a reminder of his close ties and unpopular promises to this anti-choice group.”

Political fallout

The dinner marks the closest thing to a reconciliation between Kemp and the Republican presidential nominee since a mostly one-sided spat ended their friendship in 2020 after Kemp declined to cosign Trump’s false claim of election theft in Georgia.

Things got so bad between the two that Trump enlisted former U.S. Sen. David Perdue to run against Kemp in the Republican gubernatorial primary in 2022, but Kemp easily fended off the challenge.

The bad blood seemed to mostly slip into memory since then, with Trump keeping silent on Kemp and Kemp vowing to support the Republican presidential nominee.

Then, in a move that left some Georgia Republicans gobsmacked, Trump attacked Kemp, first lady Marty Kemp, Attorney General Chris Carr, and other top Georgia Republicans during his August rally in Atlanta.

“Your governor, Kemp, and (Secretary of State Brad) Raffensperger, they’re doing everything possible to make 2024 difficult for Republicans to win,” he said just last month. “What are they doing? I don’t know. They’ve got something in mind, you know, they’ve got a little something in mind. Kemp is very bad for the Republican Party.”

The attack left politicos puzzled because Kemp is more popular than Trump is in Georgia – the governor had a 63% approval rating in June, according to polling from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. And while Trump narrowly lost Georgia in 2020 after winning in 2016, Kemp’s support grew significantly between his 2018 race against Stacey Abrams and their rematch in 2022.

Georgia is one of seven key swing states that could help determine whether Trump or Harris win the White House in November, and the race is expected to be close, with polls largely within the margin of error.

Not long after the Atlanta rally, Trump seemed to recalibrate his position on Kemp in a post on social media.

“Thank you to @BrianKempGA for all of your help and support in Georgia, where a win is so important to the success of our Party and, most importantly, our Country. I look forward to working with you, your team, and all of my friends in Georgia to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Speaking to the friendly crowd, Vance and Kemp sought to demonstrate a unified front, as did other Georgia GOP leaders, including fellow Trump target Carr, Georgia Labor Commissioner Bruce Thompson and Congressmen Mike Collins and Barry Loudermilk.

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com. Follow Georgia Recorder on Facebook and X.