This week, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) went to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. At one point during the conference, the Georgia governor spoke on the ongoing fentanyl deaths in the U.S. and encouraged Congress to secure the southern border.
Kemp attended a WEF panel moderated by Norwegian diplomat Børge Brende on Tuesday, appearing with other American politicians including Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) and Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE), Joe Manchin (D-WV), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ).
He characterized himself as a “Georgia redneck going to Davos” before leaving for Switzerland, according to reports. When speaking about his victory over failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Kemp reportedly said that the state’s pro-worker economy ultimately helped bring him the win.
Kemp said:
The question to the voters, you know, look at the candidates and ask who’s been fighting for you? Who was fighting to keep your business open when all the pressure from both political parties, from people in high places, from a lot of other people that were sitting in their basement on a computer, was not to stay up and who was not to reopen our economy, who was pushing to get our kids back in the classroom? Well, we did all of those things. And you know, we proved that we were fighting for people. We were fighting for election security. We were fighting for people to have a good paying job, And to survive, to live life to fight another day economically, in our state. We’ve fought for our people by giving them a billion dollars of their tax money back to help them fight through 40-year high inflation because in my opinion of a lot of bad policies in Washington, DC, and the voters of my state, the great state of Georgia, certainly responded to that.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp at World Economic Forum Davos talking about closing the border, the fentanyl crisis & keeping the country open after lockdown pressure from both parties.
What do you think about his attendance? pic.twitter.com/84tv2eT4qx
— An0maly (@LegendaryEnergy) January 17, 2023
The Georgia Governor talked about “partisan gridlock” in D.C. after being asked about the increase in division seen in the U.S.
“You know, there’s frustrations, quite honestly. Look, if there’s gridlock in Washington, DC, one thing you can count on is the stability and a great economy, a great business environment in the state of Georgia,” said Kemp.
He then touched on his difficulties facing the fentanyl crisis in Georgia due to White House occupant Joe Biden’s incompetence in enforcing federal immigration law.
“And we’re going to keep rocking and rolling but it is frustrating to have to deal with the Fentanyl crisis because we simply cannot see or secure our border in this country,” Kemp said. “And I’m hopeful that something gets done. But you know, my advice, take it for what it’s worth while we’re waiting on that, just secure the border.”
Kemp added that he is not the only head of state impacted by the Fentanyl crisis, saying, “I mean, literally every governor in the country is dealing with the Fentanyl crisis. We’re dealing with street gang crisis. We’re dealing with human trafficking crisis. And those are the issues that we’re trying to tackle at the state level,” Kemp said. “But I believe much could be solved and I think there will be broad bipartisan support for simply in the meantime, while you’re working on these things to secure the dang border.”
According to a report by the Washington Examiner, Kemp is currently considering running for Senate in 2026.
