ATLANTA (AP) — A leading conservative Christian group demonstrated Republican unity Monday, affirming a up-to-date détente between Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Republican nominee Donald Trump, while vice presidential candidate JD Vance sought to resolve differences over abortion policy within the evangelical community ahead of Election Day.
The Faith & Freedom Coalition, led by longtime evangelical political heavyweight Ralph Reed, brought Vance and Kemp to a stage with a common focus: championing Trump, criticizing Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and ignoring years of tensions stemming from Trump’s attacks on Kemp for refusing to assist overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss. Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results led to criminal charges against him in the state.
“We must expand our majority in Congress, regain control of the U.S. Senate and send Donald Trump back to the White House,” Kemp told a packed ballroom of evangelical political activists and donors.
For his part, Vance praised Kemp as “incredible, patriotic and very effective” and also praised Kemp’s wife, Marty – a stark contrast to Trump’s accusations in social media posts and at an Atlanta rally in August that he would “fight Unity and the Republican Party.” He also criticized the first lady of Georgia for saying she wanted to put her husband’s name on her presidential ballot.
Kemp and Vance also met backstage during the event.
The Faith & Freedom dinner followed another recent private meeting between Vance and Kemp, brokered by South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, aimed at ending public hostilities. Republicans fear the discord could assist Harris keep Georgia in the Democratic column four years after Biden won the state by just 11,779 votes out of 5 million cast.
Reed, who became a national Republican politician decades ago from his home base in Georgia, said Monday’s scene showed a GOP front bent on victory.
“We have evolved. He has evolved,” Reed said of Trump and his false claims that the 2020 election was rigged. In fact, Trump still repeats those claims regularly, although last month the former president stopped including Kemp in his list of people he blames for his defeat.
In addition to praising Kemp on Monday, Vance sought to remind his audience of Trump’s role in the 2022 Supreme Court decision that struck down the constitutional right to abortion – a goal of the conservative evangelical movement for nearly half a century.
“We are united in our gratitude and admiration for these dedicated defenders of the unborn and for the judges, judicial officers and especially President Trump, who is committed to defending the law and the Constitution and who made this breakthrough possible after more than 50 years,” Vance said, delighted that abortion regulation is now back in the hands of state governments.
The Ohio senator did not mention any disagreement on the abortion issue among conservatives, who continue to call for a national ban on abortion. Trump does not explicitly support a national ban and ensured that the Republican platform for 2024 does not include such a proposal for the first time in decades. Trump argued that conservatives should focus their energies on state governments and not make a national ban a central issue in the presidential election.
A solid majority of Americans oppose a federal abortion ban, according to a June 2024 poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Vance promised that a second Trump administration would implement policies to assist expectant and up-to-date mothers, such as investing in job training, education and child care.
“The Republican Party is proud to be a pro-life and pro-family party,” Vance said. “We believe that human life is precious and every life deserves protection because we believe that every child, born and unborn, is created in the image of God.”
Reed himself said in an interview with the Associated Press that he saw no signs that Trump’s position would cost him the support of self-described evangelical voters. And Reed said the Republican platform still contains language that would effectively extend the 14th Amendment’s equal protection principle to fetuses, legally recognizing them as persons entitled to the protection of a fair trial.
This, Reed said, “gives them the full power of the federal government to protect their lives and their liberty, and that’s all we needed.” Trump’s 2024 platform actually gives conservatives a roadmap to ban abortion through a constitutional law established by a future U.S. Supreme Court ruling based on the 14th Amendment. This cannot be done through a ruling by Congress or a constitutional amendment, which Reed said will never be passed.
