ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp revealed to CNN on Wednesday that he did not vote for former President Donald Trump in Georgia's Republican presidential primary back in March.
Kemp told CNN's Kaitlan Collins that he voted in the primary but that he didn't vote for any particular candidate.
”I mean, the race was already over when the primary got here,” he said, later adding, “I always try to go vote and, you know, play a part in it, but look at that point, it didn’t really matter.”
The comments come just one day before a massive and highly-anticipated debate between President Joe Biden and Trump.
In a one-on-one interview with 11Alive's Faith Jessie last month, Kemp said that he is "supporting the (Republican) ticket" when it came to whether he would endorse former President Trump.
Kemp also spoke about the impending debate back in May, saying how it was an important stage for Trump to be able to showcase why he believes he deserves to be back in office.
"I think it's a great opportunity, as I've been saying, for Republicans and for President Trump to make the case of why people should vote for him," he said.
"I think there's an ability to really contrast that with President Biden, and I hope that's what he does," Kemp added.
Kemp said that he was pondering whether to vote for Trump in the primary election but that he opted not to in the end.
“He was the presumptive nominee before the primary ever got here. I mean, I didn’t support anybody in the race,” Kemp told Collins on Wednesday. “I was thinking about it but, you know, just because a lot of circumstances and the way things played out, didn’t end up doing that, but said all along for the most part that I would support the ticket, and that’s what I’ve always done, and that’s what I’m doing this November.”
Part of those "circumstances" that Kemp may be alluding to could be in reference to the clash between Kemp and Trump as he refused a special legislative session that Trump had heeded following his election loss in Georgia to Biden by more than 11,000 votes. Trump then later backed Republican gubernatorial challenger David Perdue to beat Kemp in the Georgia midterms, which came up unsuccessful.
Kemp added back in May in his sitdown interview with 11Alive that he was "just a team player," adding, "I am going to support the Republican ticket from the bottom of the ticket all the way up to the top. And I've had people ask me, you know, 'why are you going to vote for somebody that was so mad at you and said so many bad things about you," he said. "Just simply because I think they'd be a better president than Joe Biden's been."
Joe Biden and Donald Trump go head-to-head on the debate stage at 9 p.m. in Atlanta in an event hosted by and at CNN.