These Republicans won states that Trump lost in 2020. Their endorsements are lukewarm (or withheld)

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp will back his fellow Republicans’ presidential ticket in November. That does not mean he will cheerlead for former President Donald Trump or even endorse him by name.

“I’m going to support the nominee,” Kemp told reporters this week after Trump won his state’s primary on his way to clinching the GOP nomination.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, once a favorite potential presidential candidate for anti-Trump Republicans, officially endorsed the former president last week. But he did so only after Trump won the Virginia primary on Super Tuesday. And Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, one of the nation’s highest-ranking Black Republicans, still won’t endorse him.

“Everybody has to make their own decision,” she told reporters after Trump’s victory. She then cited an Old Testament verse, Hosea 8:4, that reads in part, “They have set up kings, but not by me.”

While Trump coasted to his third consecutive Republican nomination, his domination of the party isn’t seamless. Some high-profile members of his party, particularly in swing states full of voters skeptical of Trump, are trying to keep their distance while preserving their own futures.

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