Republican Gov. Brian Kemp will be re-elected in Georgia, CNN Project, beating Democrat Stacey Abrams for the second time.
Abrams asked Kemp to admit, according to a Kemp campaign source.
Camp has been seen as a favorite in the race for months, with Abrams unable to capture the momentum she experienced in 2018 and hampered by voters’ broader dissatisfaction with Democrats’ control of Washington .
The victory reaffirmed Republican control of Georgia’s executive offices, shy of Democrats winning two U.S. Senate seats in the state and President Joe Biden becoming the first since Bill Clinton in 1992 Democrats in the state are only two years old.
Abrams’ defeat is a blow to Democrats, who have long sought to elevate her in a state dominated by Republicans until recently. Abrams is one of the women considered to be running alongside Biden after losing to Kemp by less than two percentage points in 2018. Despite not currently holding public office, she is often touted as one of the most powerful Democrats in the country.
Kemp’s victory makes clear that the economic arguments Republicans are making in 2022 are stronger than Democrats’ focus on abortion. Over the summer in the Supreme Court overturning Roe v..She told CNN in September that the issue would be “the focus and the center of the conversation” — specifically a bill Kemp signed that would ban most abortions when early heart activity is detected, at a time when many women were still I didn’t know I was pregnant
Kemp said on the campaign trail that he abides by the law, noting that it provides some exceptions. Instead, he spends most of his time on inflation, crime and distaste for the Biden administration.
“Georgians should know that my desire is to continue to help them overcome 40 years of high inflation and high oil prices and other things that our Georgian families are facing right now, and honestly, because of the bad policies in Washington, D.C., President Biden and having full control Democrats,” Kemp said during his first debate with Abrams.