From the moment Stacey Abrams announced her intentions to run for governor of Georgia on Wednesday afternoon, the landscape shifted in U.S. politics. Many observers that were quietly hoping for a rematch between the former Minority Leader in Georgia’s House of Representatives versus current Governor, Brian P. Kemp, had their wishes granted. With Abrams’s announcement, the 2022 Georgia Governor’s race has become America’s most watched political contest, already.
Included in that number, are various Republicans who fired attacks directed at Abrams that have seemingly resided in the draft folder of their email and social media accounts for the past two years (or more). The opening salvo came from Georgia GOP Chairperson, David Shafer:
“Georgians have rejected Stacey Abrams once and I have no doubt they will reject her again. She is thoroughly out of step with the mainstream of Georgia.”
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp fired his tweet from his drafts, claiming Abrams would’ve shut the state down with her ‘woke politics.’ He tweeted the following thread below:
“With Stacey Abrams in control, Georgia would have shut down, students would have been barred from their classrooms, and woke politics would be the law of the land and the lesson plan in our schools. Her far-left agenda of open borders, gun confiscation, high taxes, and anti-law enforcement policies don’t reflect who we are as Georgians. Stacey’s never-ending campaign for power has already hurt Georgia businesses and cost our state millions – all in service to her ultimate ambition of becoming President of the United States. Next November’s election for Governor is a battle for the soul of our state. I’m in the fight against Stacey Abrams, the failed Biden agenda, and their woke allies to keep Georgia the best place to live, work, and raise a family.”
Most notably, former president Donald J. Trump, who is disillusioned with Governor Kemp and is hellbent upon his destruction for his refusal to defend Trump’s claim that President Biden stole Georgia in the 2020 Presidential election. In an email, Trump said he beat Abrams in 2018 and vowed to do it again, without Governor Kemp’s help:
“Stacey “The Hoax” Abrams has just announced that she’s running for Governor of Georgia. I beat her single-handedly, without much of a candidate, in 2018. I’ll beat her again, but it will be hard to do with Brian Kemp, because the MAGA base will just not vote for him after what he did with respect to Election Integrity and two horribly run elections, for President and then two Senate seats. But some good Republican will run, and some good Republican will get my endorsement, and some good Republican will WIN!”
One thing is for sure and two things are certain: Georgia will be a major player in national politics in 2022 and the Georgia Republican Party desperately wants to regain the trust and adulation of former President Trump.
Three years after Abrams lost to Brian Kemp by 55,000 votes, Abrams did not concede. During her November 2018 speech, Abrams said the former Secretary of State was “deliberate and intentional in his actions,” in suppressing the vote in African-American and minority communities. She also vowed to center her future around voting rights and equity for Georgia.
“As I have for more than twenty years, I will stand with my fellow Georgians in pursuit of fairness,” Abrams said. “Only now, I do so as a private citizen, ready to continue to defend those whose choices were denied their full expression.”
Since then, the Republican-dominated State Legislature has passed sweeping election reforms that promised reform and what Kemp says, “makes it easier to vote and harder to cheat.”
“Congratulations to Georgia and the Georgia State Legislature on changing their voter Rules and Regulations. They learned from the travesty of the 2020 Presidential Election, which can never be allowed to happen again. Too bad these changes could not have been done sooner!” former President Trump said in a statement.
Governor Kemp promised these reforms after a bruising 2020 Presidential Campaign that saw Georgia Republicans lose both U.S. Senate seats and the Presidential election. It was the first time Georgia went to the Democrats since 1992.
According to reports, former U.S. Senator David Perdue has floated the idea of running for Governor. However, he has not formally mounted a primary challenge. However, if Perdue does run for Governor, it will set up a civil war within Georgia’s Republican Party. Also, Lithonia Republican (and former Democrat) Vernon Jones has filed paperwork to mount a primary challenge.
Additionally, Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan said he will not run for re-election. State Senate Pro Tem Butch Miller is running for Duncan’s soon-to-be vacated position, promising to reunify the Georgia Republican Party around the former president’s principles.
