How Donald Trump and Georgia's Republican governor made peace, supported by allies worried about the election

ATLANTA – Efforts to make peace between Donald Trump and Georgia's powerful Republican governor began in a sprawling neo-Victorian mansion in Atlanta's exclusive Buckhead enclave.

At a fundraiser on August 7 hosted by former Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler, fellow Republican Lindsey Graham approached Governor Brian Kemp. Graham, the senator from South Carolina and a longtime confidant of the former president, had already planned to attend the fundraiser.

Now Graham had a new goal: to try to ease years of tension between Trump and Kemp that were jeopardizing Republicans' chances in a crucial battleground in 2024.

Graham and Kemp met privately at Loeffler's home. And in the weeks that followed, Graham and other people familiar with the matter say, allies of both men arranged the two-part detente that became public last Thursday to the surprise of many political observers.

First, Kemp gave an interview to Fox News host Sean Hannity – another Trump ally – in which he said, “We have to send Donald Trump back to the White House.” Moments later, Trump praised Kemp on his social media page for his “help and support.”

A true agreement, if it lasts, could benefit both men: Trump may need the help of Kemp's prestigious political organization to win back Georgia in a closely contested race with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, while Kemp wants to curry favor with Trump's supporters so he can run for the U.S. Senate or presidency in 2028. Kemp attended a fundraiser for Trump on Thursday and could attend more campaign events less than 70 days before Election Day.

Trump still falsely claims he won Georgia based on unproven and disproven claims of voter fraud, which he has repeatedly raised on the campaign trail. And Kemp, who refused to stop the certification of Trump's defeat four years ago, has repeatedly urged him to keep going.

Trump's campaign did not respond to questions about the incidents, but pointed to his post on Truth Social in which he says of Georgia: “A win is so important to the success of our party and, most importantly, our country.”

Days before the fundraiser at Loeffler's home, Trump taunted Kemp and his wife, Marty, at a crowded rally in Atlanta. In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, Graham described what he told Trump afterward.

“You're not going to win Georgia that way,” Graham said. “And you can only lose Georgia.”

Graham played the diplomat.

Six days earlier, Trump spent 10 minutes at a campaign rally in Atlanta railing against Kemp for not supporting his false theories of voter fraud and accusing the governor of failing to stop a local district attorney from prosecuting him and others for their efforts to overturn the election results after his defeat in the state four years ago.

“He's a bad guy. He's a disloyal guy. And he's a very average governor,” Trump said of Kemp, who is running for his second term and is up for re-election in 2022 after soundly defeating Trump's hand-picked Republican challenger, David Perdue, in the Republican primary. “Little Brian. Little Brian Kemp. A bad guy.”

Trump also criticized Marty Kemp, who said in April that she would write her husband's name on her ballot in November.

Kemp countered, posting on X: “My focus is on winning this November and saving our country from Kamala Harris and the Democrats – not on engaging in petty personal insults, attacking my fellow Republicans, or living in the past.”

“You should do the same, Mr. President, and keep my family out of this,” Kemp’s post concluded.

Graham said in an interview that he spoke to the campaign team after the attack and remembered saying, “There is no excuse for this.”

At Loeffler's mansion, Graham, Governor Kemp and Marty Kemp met privately, and Graham also spoke with some of the governor's top aides about how to overcome tensions that have been simmering since the 2020 election. Their conversations were detailed by Graham and another person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose the private conversation.

The talks were made even more urgent by Harris's entry into the race. Georgia has become contested again following President Joe Biden's exit and the resulting wave of enthusiasm among Democrats. Republicans are concerned that Harris, who is seeking to become the first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to become president, has mobilized people of color and younger voters in ways that Biden could not.

Kemp told Graham he would continue to support the former president even if he did not approve of Trump's comments at the rally. Graham tried to focus on steering the relationship between Trump and Kemp in a “more positive direction,” one of the people familiar with the conversation said.