At the end of a three-day Sea Island retreat for Gov. Brian Kemp’s top donors, attendees couldn’t help but detect a change in the Republican’s messaging.
Where Kemp had once seemed to definitively rule out a 2024 run for the White House, he wasn’t as unequivocal at a Sunday evening briefing with dozens of supporters. Instead, he said his final decision will be up to him and his family.
Kemp’s aides and allies still don’t expect him to mount a presidential run. But his ability to stay in the national mix underscores his clout after overcoming both Donald Trump and Stacey Abrams in the same midterm cycle.
As one senior Kemp adviser put it, the governor can only benefit by engaging with a national audience — boosting his chances for a slate of offices, from the White House to the U.S. Senate to high-level party posts.