Maybe I’m reading too much into it. I’ve definitely been accused of that. But Gov. Brian Kemp’s remarks to the Walton County Republican Party recently struck me as noteworthy as much for what he didn’t say as what he did.

Sure he had all the red-meat conservative platitudes you’d expect in an election year in the safest of spaces for an incumbent governor (even one despised by the most recent president of his own party).

But even after being teed up for it by state Sen. Bill Cowsert, Kemp said not one word about the Rivian plant he boasted about bringing here just a month before when the company said it chose Stanton Springs.

I interviewed the governor by phone the next day. He was pretty proud, as he should be, and said many of the concerns of people would be alleviated by a good company and the smart leadership of local officials.

It was about that time The Atlanta Journal-Constitution predicted Rivian would be the centerpiece of Kemp’s 2022 campaign message in the contentious reelection bid. After all, not every governor can boast of bringing 7,500 new green energy manufacturing jobs.

But if that’s the song he’ll be singing in Macon, why not sing it in Monroe?

Maybe he figures local Republicans already know and instead he needed to overcome the objections voiced — loudly — by Donald Trump.

Or maybe the opposition from Rutledge is a little hotter than people have let on. Either way, Kemp came and went and anyone hoping to hear him talk about Rivian was disappointed.

David Clemons is the editor and publisher of The Walton Tribune. He previously served as the publisher of The Covington News.