Republican Gov. Brian Kemp will be re-elected in Georgia, as CNN predicted, winning a 2018 runoff against Democrat Stacey Abrams.
Kemp has been considered the favorite in the race for months, with Abrams unable to capture the momentum she experienced in 2018 and hampered by broader voter dissatisfaction with Democratic control of Washington.
The victory confirms Republican control of the executive office in Georgia just two years removed from Democrats winning both state Senate seats, and President Joe Biden became the first Democrat to win the state since Bill Clinton in 1992.
Abrams’ defeat is a blow to Democrats who have long sought to elevate her in a state that, until recently, was dominated by Republicans. After losing to Kemp by less than two percentage points in 2018, Abrams was among the women considered to run alongside Biden. She is often touted as one of the most influential Democratic Democrats in the country, even though she currently holds no public office.
Kemp’s victory is a clear sign that the economic arguments made by Republicans were stronger in 2022 than the Democrats’ focus on abortion.
Abrams focused her campaign on the issue after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade over the summer. He told CNN in September that the issue was going to be “front and center in the debate” — specifically Kemp’s signing of a bill banning most abortions when early heart activity is detected, when many women don’t even know they’re pregnant. .
Kemp said on the campaign trail that he stands by that law, noting that it has some exceptions. Instead, he spent much of his time focusing on inflation, crime and dislike of the Biden administration.
“Georgians should know that my desire is to continue to help them deal with 40-year high inflation and high gas prices and other things that our families in Georgia are facing right now, frankly, because of bad policies in Washington, DC, by President Biden and the Democrats who are in total control,” Kemp said in his first debate against Abrams.
