Trump Calls Kemp A Loser, RINO At GA Rally For Perdue, Walker

GEORGIA — Former president Donald Trump returned to Georgia Saturday night to call Gov. Brian Kemp a loser and sellout as he rallied Republican support for GOP former U.S. Sen. David Perdue, who is running for governor, and for retired football star Herschel Walker, who is seeking one of the state's U.S. Senate seats.

Trump hosted a "Save America Rally" at the Banks County Dragway in Commerce and targeted the incumbent governor.

“Before we can defeat the Democrat socialists and communists ... we first have to defeat the RINO sellouts and the losers in the primaries this spring,” Trump told the crowd as he accused Kemp of betraying Republican voters.

“Brian Kemp is a turncoat. He’s a coward and he’s a complete and total disaster,” Trump said, calling Perdue the only GOP candidate who can defeat Democrat Stacey Abrams.

Abrams lost the 2018 governor's race to Kemp by less than 2 percent.

“Governor Kemp is focused on making sure Stacey Abrams is never our governor or the next president,” Cody Hall, Kemp’s director of communications, told the Associated Press in response to Trump's attacks.

Trump rallied with Walker, Perdue, Vernon Jones and other Republicans he’s backed ahead of the state’s May 24 primary.

Perdue, a Republican, lost his senate seat to Democrat Jon Ossoff in a runoff last year. He now hopes to unseat incumbent Republican Brian Kemp as Georgia's next governor.

In addition to supporting Perdue at the rally, Trump will also show his continued support for Walker who is running for the U.S. Senate seat held by the Rev. Raphael Warnock.

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"I’m proud to have President Trump’s complete and total endorsement," Perdue tweeted last month. "Georgians are tired of do-nothing, weak-kneed politicians. As governor, I’ll be a fighter, who never caves to the woke left. Conservatives know they can count on me to secure our elections, stop Stacey & save GA!"

Kemp has faced harsh criticism from Trump for refusing to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results amid unverified claims of voter fraud.

While the governor's race is expected to be heated, a FOX news poll shows Perdue trailing Kemp by 11 points in the Republican gubernatorial primary.

The former president has issued highly-coveted endorsements in races ranging from governor to state insurance commissioner. His backing of football legend Walker essentially cleared a path to the party’s nomination for a critical U.S. Senate seat, the Associated Press said.

Trump has taken an active role in shaping the governor’s race, recruiting Perdue to challenge Kemp as retribution for his not going along with lies about the 2020 election being stolen. And in an effort to clear a path for Perdue, Trump pressed another Republican in the race — Vernon Jones — to run for Congress instead.

The campaign is emerging as an early, critical test of whether the former president can live up to his professed role as a kingmaker in the GOP.

“I think it could be the start of, I don’t want to use the word downfall, but it could be the start of his influence waning,” said Eric Tanenblatt, former chief of staff to ex-Georgia Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue and a former fundraiser for David Perdue, who is backing Kemp in the primary.

There are warning signs for Trump. While Walker is marching to the primary with minimal opposition, other races are more complicated. Jones, for instance, is now competing in a crowded congressional primary in which no one may clear the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff.

Perdue, meanwhile, may pose an even higher-profile challenge for the former president, AP said. He has struggled to raise money and, in a Fox News poll released this month, trailed Kemp 50 percent to 39 percent. If that dynamic holds, Kemp would be within striking distance of winning the primary outright, averting a runoff.