Donald Trump takes a beating before the presidential debate

Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp has said he did not vote for Donald Trump in the state's 2024 Republican presidential primary.

Kemp told CNN's Caitlin Collins that he didn't vote for anyone in the March race because he felt it “didn't really matter” because Trump is well on his way to becoming the Republican presidential nominee in 2024 anyway. His comments came as Trump and President Joe Biden were set to take part in the first live debate of the 2024 campaign in the key battleground state of Atlanta.

Relations between Kemp and Trump have long been strained ever since Kemp refused to support the former president's attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia, a state that Biden won by just over 11,700 votes.

“I didn't vote for anybody. I voted, but I didn't vote for anybody,” Kemp told CNN. origin. “By the time the primary started, the campaign was already over. I always try to vote and stay involved in elections, but at that point, it didn't really matter.”

Kemp has not publicly endorsed Trump for the 2024 presidential election but has previously vowed to support whichever Republican candidate can beat Biden in November's election.

Trump won the Georgia Republican primary on March 12 with more than 84% of the vote. He also won in Washington state and Mississippi the same night, making him a leading contender for the Republican nomination in 2024.

Trump's office was emailed a request for comment.

President Trump was so enraged by Governor Kemp's refusal to call a special legislative session to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results that he vowed to end his political career. President Trump has endorsed Governor Kemp's Republican challenger, former Senator David Perdue, in the 2022 Georgia Republican gubernatorial primary.

Kemp defeated Perdue by more than 50 percentage points.

Trump and several others have pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of alleged criminal activity in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.

The investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was launched after President Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in January 2021 and asked him to “find” the 11,870 votes needed to beat Biden in the state in the last election.

Kemp said he had not spoken directly to Trump recently and that there had been no attempts by the campaign to contact him.

Nonetheless, Kemp said he plans to set aside their differences to help Republicans win the November election.

“We'll see how the race plays out and what they want and need, but right now I'm focused on fielding a candidate that will help us win,” Kemp said. “I have a vested interest in Georgia remaining in Republican hands, despite what we've been through so far.”

Speaking about Thursday night's CNN debate, Kemp suggested Trump should not focus on past grievances to appeal to key swing voters.

“Trump has a real opportunity to really be proactive, not look in the rearview mirror, not dwell on the past, but stay focused on the contrast of the future,” Kemp said.