Swing State Spotlight: Trump, Georgia Gov. Kemp join forces for Helene

EVANS, Ga. ( NewsNation ) — Former President Donald Trump and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp met Friday for the first time since 2020.

“We want to thank the people who are working so hard,” Trump told reporters after a Hurricane Helene briefing. “We’re here in Evans, Georgia, to show our support, love and prayers.”

The relationship between Kemp and Trump has often been tense. Trump still falsely says he won Georgia in the 2020 election, and Kemp refused to stop the certification of Trump’s loss four years ago.

On Friday, Trump complimented Kemp, saying that the Georgia governor is “doing a fantastic job.”

“We will be back, and whenever the governor needs us, we will be here,” Trump said.

Kemp, before Trump spoke, thanked the former president for “keeping the national focus on our state as we recover.”

NewsNation political contributor A. Scott Bolden said the meeting was about “tolerance” because “Trump needs the governor” to win the 2024 election.

“The natural disaster isn’t just the flooding in Helene,” Bolden said on NewsNation’s “ The Hill.” “The natural disaster is that Georgia is in play. I didn’t see a love fest at all. It was tolerance, if you will.”

Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend last week, wreaking havoc in six states. Its effects are still being felt a week later, with at least 215 people dead and many unaccounted for. A lack of phone service and electricity has hindered search efforts for the missing. Roughly half the victims of the storm were in North Carolina, while dozens more were killed in South Carolina and Georgia, according to The Associated Press.

NewsNation Cassie Buchman and Julia Eisen contributed to this report.

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