YIKES. Trump Debate Surrogate: I Didn’t Vote for Trump

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has longstanding feud with the convicted felon. His off-message debate night interview won’t help.

Presidential campaigns tend to enlist strong supporters to carry their message before and after their candidate’s debate performances. Brian Kemp, governor of the state hosting the debate and an alleged Trump backer, did not fit the bill.

During an interview before the debate, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer reminded Gov. Kemp of an inconvenient fact: He did not vote for Trump in Georgia’s March 12 presidential primary, even though the convicted felon was the only Republican candidate left standing.

The governor, of course, could have kept his ballot private, but he decided instead to let the world – including Trump – know who he did not vote for.

Kemp was hardly alone. Nearly 78,000 Georgians voted for former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley in that election. An additional 13,500 Republican voters also rejected Donald Trump in that election, choosing other Republican drop-out candidates.

President Biden won Georgia by 11,779 votes in 2020. Trump and a barrage of his former aides were indicted in Fulton County for felony racketeering charges, allegedly conspiring to overturn the will of Georgia voters.

In the years since that election, Trump has relentlessly attacked Kemp as a “RINO” (Republican In Name Only) governor, because Kemp did not commit treason on Trump’s behalf. After backing Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial primary, Trump endorsed Kemp’s primary opponent, former U.S. senator David Perdue, in 2020.

Kemp claims he will support the convicted felon in November. His lieutenant governor during his first term as governor, Geoff Duncan, endorsed President Biden.