Gov. Brian Kemp’s blunt warning for Republicans | On The Road

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**Brian Kemp** (0:14)
I think for Republicans, we cannot be a party of one or a party of one ideal. I mean, we have to be a big tent party.
I think there's a lot of folks that get short-sighted and go, you know, you weren't with the president on this one issue, or you weren't with whoever on this one issue. We got to give people a little grace. I mean, if the Democrats get back complete control, it's going to be a bad day for our country.

**Jonathan Martin** (0:43)
This is Jonathan Martin coming at you on the road from Augusta, Georgia. We're here at the Masters. Just talked to Brian Kemp, the governor of Georgia, about the midterms here in Georgia and nationally, why Raphael Warnock could be a formidable candidate for president for the Democrats, and also why he thinks that e-vehicles could be the best way to hunt feral hogs at night. This is On The Road with Jonathan Martin.
Hello, friends. It's a borrow from Jim Nance. That's not bad, right, Gov? Hello, friends. Jonathan Martin here back on the road in one of the most special places in America, and maybe this time of year, the spring, the coolest place in America, Augusta, Georgia, the Masters Tournament, a tradition unlike any other with the governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp.

**Brian Kemp** (1:33)
Good to be with you.

**Jonathan Martin** (1:34)
Thanks, Gov. Now, we should say up front that by way of confession, I'm not a golf guy. You're more of a hunter than a golf guy, I think, Gov.

**Brian Kemp** (1:41)
Yeah, definitely.

**Jonathan Martin** (1:42)
Okay.

**Brian Kemp** (1:42)
But I've played a little bit of golf.

**Jonathan Martin** (1:43)
Okay, just to have that out there.

**Brian Kemp** (1:44)
Not as much recently.

**Jonathan Martin** (1:45)
We want to be transparent with folks here going forward about our golf interest. But this is a cool tradition, though.
I read today 70 million bucks in merchandise revenue alone. That's just the merch.

**Brian Kemp** (1:58)
Well, I can tell you that my wife and children have been a big part of that.
And I have stood in line just about every year, especially in my term as governor. What's really interesting about Augusta National and the Masters is just the quality of everything they do. They wanted to be the best.

**Jonathan Martin** (2:16)
And one of the cool things is the food here, and this wouldn't be on the road if we didn't have a good spread. And apparently, they haven't changed their prices for decades on some of this food. And they're famous for their barbecue. They got the peach ice cream, pimento cheese sandwiches. And it's like two bucks a pop, right?

**Brian Kemp** (2:32)
Yeah, that's unreal. If you're on the course and you get to go into one of the concession stands, you'll see the line. You know, it'll be people everywhere. And you're thinking, man, it's going to take me an hour to get through this line. It literally takes five minutes. It's a well-oiled machine. You can go in there. You can get a sandwich, barbecue, bag of chips, Côte d'Ivoire, get a beer, get an ice cream sandwich. Or the new thing this year is just the candy bar. It just says, I've been hearing about this. I hadn't had it yet. But it just says, the master's candy bar.

**Jonathan Martin** (3:05)
Don't be shy.

**Brian Kemp** (3:06)
All right.

**Jonathan Martin** (3:07)
I can't believe that you're almost done here. You're termed out. I can't believe that eight years have gone by in a flash. I want to talk about your career.
I didn't fully appreciate that you came in to the Georgia state house, actually the state senate, I should say, in 2002, which was a famous year politically in Georgia.
Some folks know this, the real nerds out there know this, but that's the year when Republicans really make their move in Georgia. Sonny Perdue gets elected as governor. You beat the old long-standing house speaker, Tom Murphy, who was there forever and a day. That's really the moment of realignment here politically. That was the year you came in. You won a pretty competitive race over in Athens. What was the margin over there for that race?

**Brian Kemp** (3:49)
Oh, man. I think I only won by three or four or five hundred votes. It was really close. Wave turnout election. And then when Sonny Perdue won that night, he got three of his former colleagues in the Senate to switch parties. And so we go in on the majority. I mean, it was insane. And then two years later, we won the state house. And we've been on that a little over 20 year run in Republican majorities.