Kemp urges Republicans not to ‘look in the rearview mirror’ in 2024 race

Gov. Brian Kemp (R-Ga.) on Sunday urged Republicans not to "look in the rearview mirror" as the 2024 election revs up.

"Focus on the future, not look in the rearview mirror. You know, if you look in the rearview mirror too long while you're driving, you're gonna look up and you're gonna be running into somebody and that's not gonna be good," Kemp said on CNN's "State of the Union."

"It's like a quarterback that throws an interception. If you dwell on that the rest of the game, your team's not gonna fare very well. But if you put it behind you and focus on the game ahead in the future, then you're going to win."

Kemp didn't mention former President Trump by name, but his comments come after he said in remarks on Saturday at a private Republican National Committee donor retreat that Republicans should move on from the 2020 presidential election, as reported by CNN.

The governor's sentiment appears to be a veiled jab at Trump, who regularly airs grievances about the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to President Biden.

As Trump faces special counsel probes by the Department of Justice and criminal charges in Manhattan, he's also been hit with legal woes in Georgia. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) is investigating whether Trump and his allies attempted to interfere with the 2020 presidential election results in the state in a call with officials there in which he asked to "find" votes to flip the state to his favor.

"The road to the White House is coming through Georgia and two other three states that really in my opinion are going to decide the presidential race," Kemp said, stressing that Republicans shouldn't get "distracted."

"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, if we get distracted every day and let the media just talk about that, that only helps Joe Biden, it does not give us a path for Republicans to win," Kemp said.

Trump announced his 2024 bid back in November, and has been joined in the GOP primary ring by a number of other Republican contenders. President Biden hasn't yet officially announced a re-election campaign, but has said he plans to do so.