佐治亚州杰基尔岛(JeKYLL ISLAND)——佐治亚州州长布赖恩·坎普(Brian Kemp)周六在该州的年度大会上遭到嘲笑和嘘声，暴露了共和党人对他在证明民主党人乔·拜登(Joe Biden)在总统竞选中获胜方面所起的作用的怨恨。
肯普的支持者试图淹没嘲弄，他恳求政党和谐。在他2022年的连任竞选中，州长强调了他的成就，尤其是一个选举共和党各州议员推动的改革唐纳德·特朗普他谎称自己在11月因选民欺诈而落选。
“我们必须坚强和勇敢，”坎普说。他谈到民主党时说:“他们有好莱坞。纽约和加州都有亿万富翁。...这就是为什么我们也必须团结一致，共同前进。”
然而，肯普从未提及这位抨击了他数月的前总统，他于周六晚些时候重返政治舞台，向北卡罗来纳州共和党人发表了演讲。坎普也从未明确表示2020年的选举是欺诈性的或计算不准确的，这使他与其他上台的演讲者脱颖而出，包括他的一个处于劣势的主要竞争对手，他得到了令人振奋的回应。
坎普保持了足够的力量，轻而易举地挫败了一项谴责他操纵选举的决议。159个县中至少有15个地方政党大会和14个国会选区大会通过了此类决议。但该缔约国的决议委员会搁置了此事，坎普的反对者周六无法强制进行全面的大会投票。
但代表们指责另一位共和党人国务卿布拉德·拉芬斯佩格在管理2020年选举中发挥了更直接的作用。拉芬伯格和坎普一样，正在寻求连任。与坎普不同，他没有参加自己政党的大会。
这一幕强调了特朗普即使在失败时对共和党的坚定支持，以及肯普或任何其他有意或无意与前总统作对的共和党人的潜在危险。这让许多肯普支持者担心，特朗普的忠实者对2020年的持续关注将使该党在即将到来的中期选举中注定失败。
“我害怕这些反坎普的共和党人，”37岁的萨凡纳代表詹姆斯·霍尔说。
特朗普在大会上录制了一段视频，他在视频中赞扬了佐治亚州的共和党人，但总体上从未提到坎普。特朗普还承诺他将“在不久的将来”返回格鲁吉亚参加集会。这让人想起1月4日，共和党在佐治亚州输掉美国参议院决胜选举的前一天，他承诺在2022年的竞选中“竞选州长”
霍尔预测，这种分歧将确保参议院的决胜选举重演，当时民主党人拉斐尔·沃诺克(Raphael Warnock)和乔恩·奥索夫(Jon Ossoff)击败了参议员凯利·洛夫勒和大卫·珀杜。共和党失去了对特朗普失败感到愤怒的铁杆保守派的选票;他们失去了温和派的选票，这些温和派因拜登11月的胜利是非法的这一虚假主张而被拒绝。两党和全国各地的州选举官员都为结果提供了担保，多个法院驳回了特朗普的选举挑战。
霍尔说:“如果我们继续玩这些愚蠢的游戏，说坎普不够纯洁，我们将再次把它交给民主党。”“只是这样适得其反。他是唯一能在11月获胜的共和党人。”
州长的批评者坚称他赢得了反对派的支持。
萨凡纳的芭芭拉·坎宁安(Barbara Cunningham)说:“如果你不支持特朗普，你就没有机会参与进来。”她参与该州的政党已经有50多年了。
坎普的挑战者弗农·琼斯附和了这种观点。琼斯是一名前黑人民主党人，他支持特朗普，并转换政党与肯普较量，他夸大了自己的种族和以前的党派关系，提醒代表们特朗普和罗纳德·里根曾经是民主党人。
琼斯给终身共和党人坎普贴上了“名存实亡的共和党人”的标签。琼斯说，特朗普落选时，“该州的RINO领导层袖手旁观”。
他称拜登为“吉姆·克劳·乔”，并辱骂民主党2018年州长候选人和2022年可能的候选人斯泰西·艾布拉姆斯为“南方邪恶女巫”
“他们会怎么做，玩种族牌?”琼斯问道，引来了绝大多数白人代表的笑声和怒吼。
肯普首先激怒了共和党的一些右翼，他任命富有的女商人雷夫勒填补参议院空缺，而不是提升特朗普的首选，当时的众议员道格·柯林斯。11月，当肯普遵循州法律，认证拜登的选举团名单时，这一问题浮出水面。他还拒绝召开立法特别会议来解决——或试图推翻——选举结果。
“肯普本可以帮助他，但他没有，”坎宁安哀叹道。
多次重新计票证实了拜登11月份在500万张选票中获得了约12000张选票，使他成为自1992年以来第一位赢得格鲁吉亚的民主党总统候选人。在1月份的参议院决选中，民主党的优势扩大了。奥索夫以55，000票击败濮培德，而沃诺克以超过93，000票或大约2个百分点废黜雷夫勒。这两个差额都超过了引发重新计票的门槛。
诚然，肯普仍然是共和党提名的热门人选。
“他一次又一次地表达了共和党选民的愿望，无论是保护生命的问题，财政问题，还是其他任何问题，”凯文·戈夫(Kevin Gough)说，他是格林县的代表，大会在格林县举行。
坎普当然列举了这样一个清单:减税，目前受到法院挑战的新堕胎限制，“有分寸地”放松流行病规则以保持企业开放，反对佐治亚州公立学校教授的“批判种族理论”。
嘘声，高夫说，“不要代表整个党说话。”
In Trump's shadow, Ga's. Kemp draws boos from GOP faithful
JEKYLL ISLAND, Georgia -- Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp drew jeers and boos at his state party’s annual convention Saturday, laying bare the bitterness that remains among Republicans over his role in certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential race.
Kemp’s supporters tried to drown out the taunts and he pleaded for party harmony. Heading into his 2022 reelection campaign, the governor emphasized his accomplishments, especially anelectionoverhaul that GOP state lawmakers pushed in reaction toDonald Trump’s false assertions that he lost in November because of voter fraud.
“We must be strong and courageous,” Kemp said. He said of Democrats: “They’ve got Hollywood. They’ve got billionaires in New York and California. ... That is why we have to be united as well and move forward together.”
Yet Kemp never mentioned the former president who has bashed him for months and who returned to the political arena later Saturday with a speech to North Carolina Republicans. Nor did Kemp ever explicitly state that the 2020 election was fraudulent or inaccurately tallied, setting him apart from a parade of other speakers who took the stage, including one of his underdog primary rivals who received a rousing response.
Kemp maintained enough strength to easily beat back a resolution condemning his handling of the election. At least 15 local party conventions out of 159 counties and two congressional district conventions out of 14 adopted such resolutions. But the state party’s resolutions committee shelved the matter, and Kemp opponents were unable Saturday to force a full convention vote.
But delegates censured Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, another Republican, for his more direct part in administering the 2020 elections. Raffensperger, like Kemp, is seeking re-election. Unlike Kemp, he did not attend his own party’s convention.
The scene underscored Trump’s iron hold on the Republican Party even in defeat and the potential peril for Kemp or any other GOP figure who crosses the former president, intentionally or not. And it left many Kemp supporters worried that Trump loyalists’ continued fixation on 2020 will doom the party in the coming midterm elections.
“I’m scared to death of these anti-Kemp Republicans,” said James Hall, a 37-year-old delegate from Savannah.
Trump taped a video message for the convention in which he praised Georgia Republicans generally yet never mentioned Kemp. Trump also promised he'd return to Georgia for a rally “in the very near future.” It was reminiscent of his promise on Jan. 4, the day before Republicans lost U.S. Senate runoffs in Georgia, to spend the 2022 race “campaigning against your governor.”
Hall predicted such divisiveness would ensure a repeat of the Senate runoffs, when Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff defeated Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. The Republicans lost votes from hardcore conservatives angry over Trump’s defeat; and they lost votes among moderates turned off by the false claims that Biden’s November victory was illegitimate. State elections officials of both parties and across the country have vouched for the results, and multiple courts have rejected Trump's election challenges.
“If we keep playing these stupid games saying Kemp is not pure enough, we’re going to hand it over to the Democrats again,” Hall said. “It’s just so counterproductive. He's the only Republican that can win in November.”
The governor’s critics insist he’s earned the opposition.
“If you don’t support Trump, you don’t get to play,” said Barbara Cunningham of Savannah, who’s been involved with the state party for more than 50 years.
Kemp challenger Vernon Jones echoed that sentiment. A Black former Democrat who backed Trump and switched parties to take on Kemp, Jones played up his race and his former partisan affiliation, reminding delegates that Trump and Ronald Reagan were once Democrats.
Jones tagged Kemp, a lifelong Republican, with the “Republican in Name Only” moniker. “The RINO leadership of this state sat on the sidelines” as Trump lost, Jones said.
He dubbed Biden “Jim Crow Joe” and insulted Stacey Abrams, Democrats’ 2018 nominee for governor and likely nominee in 2022, as “the Wicked Witch of the South.”
“What are they gonna do, play the race card?” Jones asked, drawing laughter and roars from the overwhelmingly white delegate body.
Kemp first angered some of the GOP’s right flank with his appointment of Loeffler, a wealthy businesswoman, to a Senate vacancy rather than elevating Trump’s preferred choice, then-Rep. Doug Collins. That boiled over in November when Kemp followed state law by certifying Biden’s Electoral College slate. He also declined to call a legislative special session to address — or attempt to overturn — the results.
“Kemp could have helped him, but he didn’t,” Cunningham lamented.
Multiple recounts confirmed Biden’s November margin of about 12,000 votes out of 5 million cast, making him the first Democratic presidential nominee to win Georgia since 1992. In the January Senate runoffs, Democrats’ margins widened. Ossoff defeated Perdue by 55,000 votes, while Warnock deposed Loeffler by more than 93,000 votes or about 2 percentage points. Both margins were beyond the thresholds that trigger recounts.
To be sure, Kemp remains a favorite for the GOP nomination.
“He has delivered time and time again on what Republican voters want, whether it’s pro-life issues, fiscal issues, whatever,” said Kevin Gough, a delegate from Glynn County, where the convention was being held.
Kemp certainly ticked through such a list: tax cuts, new abortion restrictions currently under court challenge, “measured” relaxing of pandemic rules to keep businesses open, opposition to “critical race theory” being taught in Georgia public schools.
The boos, Gough said, “don’t speak for the whole party.”
