ATLANTA — In just about a month, GOP candidates seeking the Republican Party’s presidential nomination will battle it out on the debate stage for the first time.
As it's about 6 months out from the first Iowa caucus, many candidates are already on the campaign trail in hopes of taking President Joe Biden’s job.
Despite speculation, Georgia's Gov. Brian Kemp is not one of them. He’s signaled that right now his focus is on running Georgia, not the United States. However, Georgia played a major role in the last presidential election. A big question for the GOP leading up to 2024 is what do they need to do to get more people to vote red.
11Alive asked Kemp’s Senior Advisor Cody Hall. Follow the Q&A below. It has been lightly edited for clarity.
What are conservative voters looking for in Georgia?
Hall: I think it's going to be similar to what conservative voters have looked for really in the last couple of election cycles and that's who's going to fight for them - whether that's economically dealing with record high inflation, rising prices at the grocery store still high, got high gas prices. Also, culturally, what's going on in the classroom? What's going on in our Second Amendment rights, also in the pro-life movement, but then also really from a broader national security perspective with China, Russia.
I think a lot of our GOP voters are looking for someone that matches their mood more than their ideology. And right now, I think a lot of Republican voters are feeling frustrated with the direction of the country and they're wanting change and they're wanting someone who can really take the fight to President Biden and win a general election.
From your experience, what are some of those strategies that these GOP candidates are going to have to do to garner that support and that trust?
Yeah, I think it's going to come down to a couple of things tactically.
One, you have to stay on message. You have to stay focused. You have to be comfortable in your own skin as a candidate and that campaign has to reflect that.
Two, I think it's going to come down to who can articulate an economic message for where to take the country, because I think this election cycle, much like the last one, is going to be heavily focused on the kitchen table issues. How much am I paying at the grocery store, how much am I paying at the gas pump, what's my family budget like - the candidate that can relate to that first, but then second, offer policy proposals that address those issues. I think that's going to really be the telling factor in this primary where typically you may see more focus on cultural issues.
I think at the end of the day, there's a level of frustration and angst among Republican voters, and that really goes back to the economic questions that they're facing at their kitchen tables every day. So your campaign has to come up with a message to address that issue, but then also really stick to it because it's tough in a campaign. You get a lot of things thrown at you. You have to be willing to block out the noise and focus on what matters to voters.
How big of a stage do you think or role, rather, is Georgia going to play in the national election?
I think it'll be huge next November. I think it's going to be Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Those are the four states that are going to decide who's the next president. Most of the other ones are going to be much less competitive.
In the primary, I think we're (Georgia) going to serve an important role, especially on the Republican side, because of not only our spot in the calendar right after Super Tuesday. So Super Tuesday has all these large states that vote all at once for that next week. So if there's no clear winner of a Super Tuesday, Georgia could be the last best hope of a non-Trump candidate to garner delegates. So on the calendar, I think we're important. But then I also think that Governor Kemp is going to play an outsized role in this Republican primary. Obviously, it's going to.
Has Governor Kemp thrown his support behind any individual candidate thus far?
No, ma'am.
I think for right now, he's taking a wait-and-see approach. You know, he kind of has the same mindset that I just laid out that it's early. The next debate's in a month, you are starting to see the fundraising totals from the second quarter start to come out of these campaigns. You know, former President Trump at $35 million. Governor DeSantis at $150 million. As these campaigns start to then move into quarter three of fundraising, have a debate, then I think you'll start to see the race kind of shift because it's been stagnant over the last few months.
President Trump has still not said that he's lost the election. There are many of his supporters living in our state that believe that the election was rigged. There was something wrong with it. What is your message to those voters?
My message would be, I hear you. I understand your frustration. I understand that there are always questions about elections. They are very convoluted, complicated affairs that happen every two years. But I think at the end of the day, Americans and Georgians specifically should have trust and confidence, not just in what I'm saying, but in what the former attorney general said, what federal agencies have said that looked into it, what multiple recounts have said. And then look, at the end of the day, whether you believe that something went wrong in 2020 or not, there were reforms made shortly after that election to make our processes more secure, but also make ease of voting still prevalent in our state.
But then, look, the governor says this all the time, we've got to stop looking backwards. We've got to be looking forwards. And if you don't win, you don't get to govern. And if you don't get to govern, the other side does. And that's just how our process works. So we've got to stay focused on the future as Republicans and get back to telling people what we're for and what we want to do for the country. I think that's the path forward that not only allows us to win the popular vote for the first time since 2004, hopefully, but then also win the Electoral College in November.