Megan Varner/Getty Images; Win McNamee/Getty Images
- Donald Trump has announced his endorsement of former Sen. David Perdue.
- Perdue is challenging Gov. Brian Kemp in Georgia’s GOP gubernatorial primary.
- In his endorsement, Trump backed Perdue and insulted Kemp, calling him a “RINO” and “very weak.”
Former President Donald Trump has endorsed former Sen. David Perdue, in a primary against current Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
Trump announced that he was backing Perdue in a primary against the sitting GOP governor in a statement released on Monday via his spokeswoman, Liz Harrington. In the statement, Trump called Perdue a “Conservative fighter who isn’t afraid of the Radical Left.”
Trump’s endorsement followed an earlier statement he made on Monday, where he accused Kemp of being a “RINO” (an acronym for “Republican-in-name-only”) and for hurting “election integrity” in Georgia.
“Kemp has been a very weak Governor — the liberals and RINOs have run all over him on Election integrity and more. Most importantly, he can’t win because the MAGA base — which is enormous — will never vote for him,” Trump wrote.
The former president added that he thought Perdue and Herschel Walker, who is currently angling for a Senate seat, would make an “unstoppable team.”
“Trump supporters will turn out to vote for these great leaders in big numbers. David Perdue has my Complete and Total Endorsement. He will not let you down!” Trump wrote.
Trump is backing Perdue, a one-term senator who lost to Democratic lawmaker Jon Ossoff in a Senate runoff election earlier this year, after a highly-publicized rift between himself and Kemp.
The two men saw their relationship fracture after Kemp broke with Trump and said he would “continue to follow the law” despite Trump’s baseless claims of nationwide voter fraud. In return, former president lashed out at Kemp, saying that he did “absolutely nothing,” to help Trump contest the 2020 presidential election and he was “ashamed” of endorsing Kemp when he ran for governor in 2018.
Kemp’s representatives did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
This past June, Trump also said at a rally that he would rather have Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams be Georgia’s governor instead of Kemp.
“Having her, I think, might be better than having your existing governor, if you want to know what I think,” Trump said at the rally, per CNN. “Stacey, would you like to take his place? It’s OK with me.”
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