In Georgia, Kemp sets out to mend fractured GOP

PERRY, Ga. (AP) — Brian Kemp often tells supporters to “keep choppin’ wood,” his way of urging a calm, deliberate approach — even in politics. Yet the Georgia governor also says he’ll be “running scared and hard” as he seeks a second term in 2022. It’s a necessary contradiction as the 57-year-old Republican tries to reassemble a once-dominant GOP coalition in his newfound battleground state. To do that next November, he must navigate Donald Trump’s false attacks about the 2020 election and Democrats’ ascendance with a fast-growing, increasingly metropolitan electorate that sided narrowly with President Joe Biden in November and sent two Atlanta Democrats to the U.S. Senate in January. Kemp on Saturday told his supporters “we need everyone engaged” citing Democratic unity.