Four years later, Brian Kemp and Stacy Abrams renewed their gubernatorial grudge match in a Monday night televised debate ahead of the Nov. 8 rematch for Georgia governor.
Unlike their 2018 race, the duo now count as seasoned politicians with national profiles. Their divergent visions for Georgia’s future haven’t changed much, though.
The candidates, along with Libertarian Shane Hazel, met as part of the Atlanta Press Club’s Loudermilk Young debate series on the first day of early voting. All debates hosted by the Press Club are available for viewers to watch on GPB.org and The Atlanta Press Club Facebook page.
The debate was wide ranging, with questions asked about abortion, education, voting rights, law enforcement, marijuana legalization, entrepreneurship, and even U.S. Senate appointments. The economy and inflation were among the few major issues that received little attention. The Kemp-Abrams race is a rematch of the 2018 election. Kemp won that contest narrowly – 55,000 votes – and has led the state for the past four years. Abrams, meanwhile, has spent that time building her national profile through voting rights advocacy.
“The reason people are on my side is because I’m on the right side of the issues and the right side of history,” Abrams said in response to an opening question about why she is behind on polls. “I do not believe I am behind, I believe I making the case for me.”
Asked about whether he would support additional bans on abortions or contraceptives, Kemp said, “No, I would not,” then pivoted to inflation.
“Thankfully, working with the Georgia General Assembly we’ve been able to give some people relief,” he said.
Kemp and Hazel engaged in an early back and forth on the legality of marijuana.
After a quick round of questions from the panelists, candidates were given an opportunity to ask each other a question.
