Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp takes aim at Trump without naming him, urges GOP to not be 'distracted'

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Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp called on his party to not be “distracted” in the 2024 presidential election, taking a shot at former President Donald Trump without naming him.

“We cannot get distracted,” Kemp said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union”, specifically referring to Trump’s legal challenges in his indictment in New York and a grand jury investigation in Georgia into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

“If we get distracted and talk about other things that the Democrats want to talk about, like these investigations, regardless of what you think about the politics of those,” Kemp continued. “If we get distracted every day and let the media just talk about that, that only helps (President) Joe Biden.”

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Kemp urges GOP to focus on future

Kemp also alluded to Trump’s repeated false claims that the 2020 election was stolen as one of those distractions that will stop Republicans from reclaiming the White House.

“Focus on the future, not look in the rear-view mirror,” said Kemp. “If you look in the rear-view mirror too long while you’re driving, you’re going to look up and you’re going to be running into somebody. And that’s not going to be good.”

Instead, Kemp urged his fellow Republicans to pitch to voters a vision for the future and to attack the Biden administration on issues including immigration and the economy.

“For people to ultimately be able to win, we have to tell people what we’re for. We’ve got to focus on the future,” Kemp said. “And we also have to just make the comparisons with the disaster of the Biden administration.”

Related: Secret Service fights to shed politics, but Trump's indictment, 2024 election are major tests

Kemp: 2020 election is 'ancient history'

Kemp’s remarks Sunday echoed what he told Republicans at a donor retreat in Nashville on Saturday, multiple media organizations reported. Privately, Kemp also did not name Trump, but specifically called the 2020 election as “ancient history.”

“To voters trying to pay their rent, make their car payment or put their kids through college, 2020 is ancient history,” Kemp said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gov. Brian Kemp aims at Trump, tells GOP don't be 'distracted' in 2024