Friday’s joint appearance in Evans, Georgia, marked the first time the two men were seen together since the 2020 election. Kemp and Trump initially fell out after the governor resisted pressure to overturn the state’s election results, which gave President Joe Biden a victory.

In retaliation, Trump attempted to oust Kemp during his 2022 re-election bid by endorsing a primary challenger, former Republican Senator David Perdue, but the effort proved unsuccessful.

There were no hard feelings on display Friday as the two men shook hands and took part in a briefing on the hurricane. Later, during a brief press conference, Kemp and Trump had warm remarks for each other.

“I want to thank President Trump for returning to our state for a second time to survey the storm damage and keep the national focus on our state as we recover,” Kemp said as he stood in front of several packages of water, diapers and diapers . toilet paper and paper towels. “I hope you will welcome the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump.”

“Well, Brian, thank you very much. Your governor is doing a fantastic job, I can tell you that,” Trump responded. “And we are all with him and with everyone.”

As recently as August, Trump criticized Kemp as a “disloyal” governor and a “villain” and even took shots at Kemp’s wife Marty, who had refused to support Trump. The governor fired back, telling Trump to “leave my family out of it” and stop using “little personal insults.”

Shortly afterwards, the men made peace in an effort to prevent Vice President Kamala Harris from winning the battleground state in November. Kemp endorsed Trump on Fox News, telling host Sean Hannity, “We need to send Donald Trump back to the White House.”

The appearance in Georgia was not billed as a campaign stop, and indeed Trump eschewed his usual 90-minute speech, opting for a six-minute introduction before taking a few questions from the press.

The former president reiterated his support for Kemp when a reporter asked for clarification about their relationship. “It’s great. It’s great. We work together. We have always worked very well together,” Trump responded.

While Trump did venture into some political commentary on the Biden administration, he repeatedly stated that his focus was on the hurricane recovery efforts.

When asked about Georgia and North Carolina, two crucial battleground states, Trump replied: “I’m not thinking about the voters right now, I’m thinking about lives.”

“And to be honest, it’s much bigger than anything else. But we are thinking about lives, many lives lost, many people missing,” he continued.

Even after being questioned about Biden’s declaration that there would be a free and fair election, Trump still pointed to the people currently devastated by the storm.

“I don’t know anything about what he said. I can only hope that it will be free and fair, and I think it will be so in this state, and I hope it will be in every state,” he responded first. “And I think we’re going to do very well. But right now we’re focusing on this. We are not focused on the elections.”

This was a more disciplined performance from Trump, who has struggled to stay on message while campaigning against Harris, who toured Augusta, Georgia, on Wednesday and announced federal aid for the Peach State.

Trump was in Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday, where he delved into the political fallout from the hurricane. The former president denounced the Biden administration’s response to Helene and falsely claimed that Biden had failed to communicate with Georgia’s governor, prompting backlash from both Kemp and Biden.

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Biden visited Georgia later Thursday after the White House explained that trips to affected areas had been scheduled later to avoid imposing burdensome procedures over Secret Service protections.

Georgia and North Carolina are key states that, if Trump wins in November, along with Pennsylvania, would catapult him to 270 electoral votes and thus to a second government.