Posted on 10/31/2022 6:47:23 AM PDT by Red Badger
Gov. Brian Kemp (R) and Stacey Abrams (D) had one last debate to persuade Georgia voters still undecided about whom to support in the governor's race, and the pair used the platform to criticize one another on everything from abortion to guns, with Abrams also attacking Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker (R).
Roughly one week before Election Day, Abrams, a former Georgia state lawmaker, is behind the incumbent by an average of 7 to 8 points, according to FiveThirtyEight and RealClearPolitics, respectively.
Here are five takeaways from their final hourlong debate:
1 Kemp and Abrams each appealed to the middle ground on abortion
With Democrats trying to leverage abortion access as a wedge issue this midterm election cycle, Kemp repeated that Georgia voters are permitted to disagree with his anti-abortion position. At the same time, Abrams reiterated she believes in limitations that take viability into account.
Alluding to Georgia's "heartbeat bill," which was passed three years ago, Kemp described his 18-year-old anti-abortion stance as "honest and transparent." But he avoided a question on whether he would endorse stricter measures, such as those adopted by Texas.
"It is not my desire to move the needle any further on this issue," Kemp said. "I personally don't see a need to go back. But when you're governor, you have to deal with all kinds of legislative issues that are out there, so we'll look at those when the time comes."
Abrams seized on his equivocation, contending women are "in danger" as long as Kemp is governor and promising to repeal H.B. 481 if she replaces him.
"Brian Kemp does not have a plan for the lives of the women who are being forced to carry their unwanted pregnancies," she said, calling late-term abortions "concerning." "He refuses to defend us, and yet he defended Herschel Walker, saying that he didn't want to be involved in the personal life of his running mate. But he doesn't mind being involved in the personal lives and the personal medical choices of women in Georgia."
2 Kemp dinged Abrams and Democrats on election integrity after 2018 contest
Kemp defended his state's election laws after reports that almost 1.6 million Georgians have already voted, a record. He was adamant he would "absolutely" accept the outcome of the Nov. 8 contest before criticizing Abrams for her delay in doing the same after their 2018 race and national Democrats for scrutinizing his recent reforms.
"She's benefited personally from that running around and scaring people about suppressing votes, suppressive legislation," Kemp said of Abrams. "We had people from New York criticizing us about [SB 202]. We had President Biden criticizing us about this bill. ... In Georgia, it's easy to vote and hard to cheat, and I'm committed to keeping it that way."
Abrams similarly defended her lawsuits against Kemp's election laws, particularly over his so-called voter registration purges. She provided a one-word reply when asked whether she would accept the results next week: "Yes."
3 Kemp tried to corner Abrams on 'defunding the police'
Kemp attempted, with limited success, to pin Abrams on her previous statements regarding "defunding the police" and cash bail changes.
"When we had civil unrest, and we had hundreds of people that were literally trying to burn our capital city down, this past session, we gave our attorney general more powers to go after street gangs because of, quite honestly, local [district attorneys] that don't want to prosecute gangs," he said. "It is Miss Abrams that has said that she wants to defund the police. She wants to eliminate cash bail and have Get Out of Jail Free cards."
Abrams underscored that police and other law enforcement resources are being stretched by mental health problems. But she underlined that she disagreed that redirecting money was the answer. Instead, she advocated investing in education and gun control.
"I've never said that I believe in defunding the police," Abrams said. "I believe in public safety and accountability."
4 Kemp and Abrams drew swords on gun policy
Kemp asked the moderator for the opportunity to respond to Abrams' criticism of his gun policy. He asserted he had eased restrictions, in part, to address a backlog created by the pandemic.
"[Criminals] don't care what the laws are. They already got the guns," he said. "The problem was law-abiding citizens couldn't get a dang permit from the local government because governments were shut down. They were slow playing the permitting process. The law is still the same that's out there."
Abrams pressed Kemp on background checks, specifically for private sales at, for example, gun shows and waiting periods before purchases.
"I know that the person responsible for the weapon is the person holding it," Abrams said. "But I also believe in trust but verify, and the only way to verify whether a person is lawful or not is to look at their background."
"We need a governor who puts safety before the NRA," she added.
5 Kemp and Abrams spoke to the economic pinch being experienced by voters
Abrams kept saying the "economic pain" being felt by Georgians is "real" before blaming Kemp's conservative politics for driving away woke company business from the state.
"What I will not do is give tax cuts to the wealthy and the powerful," she said. "I will focus on our workers and our small businesses, putting them first, making sure that especially minority-owned businesses and our rural businesses get access to contracts."
Kemp stated the country's poor economic conditions have been exacerbated by President Joe Biden and Democrats "that have complete control of Washington, D.C." He cited his state income tax cut, property tax relief program, gas tax holiday, and stimulus checks.
Abrams comes across as unctuous.
6. Abrams will lose, by a rather large margin.
Abrams has run for every political office under the sun, only to be told don’t come back. No matter what narrative Abrams tries to tell in these debates, she is going down, hopefully never for her opportunistic race baiting ass to be seen again.
I can't imagine a person who votes for Kemp then casting a vote for Warnock.
However, I don't have a good feeling about Hershel's chances. Call it conspiracy theory all you like, but I feel like Kemp/Raffensberger are corrupt RINOs to the core, and I fear they have made a secret deal with Dominion so that they get re-elected to their state jobs while Warnock will remain in the Senate. No proof at all of this, it's just what I fear will happen.
The Dems in Georgia will continue to support her no matter what.
Remember, to a DEM, defeat and failure are resume enhancements...............
Kemp and Abrams each appealed to the middle ground on abortion.....
Been living down here for half my life. Don’t want to see Abrams win, but Kemp isn’t getting my vote. Tired of his nonsense and the rest of them.
As for abortion, it comes down to one thing.....When the states Heartbeat Bill was signed, Roe v Wade was the law of the land. I doubt you could find one person in this country that ever thought it would be nullified to allow the states to make their own decisions. Kemp signed that bill, because he is dumber than a box of rocks, thinking that it would never come to this. He, like so many other RINO Governors(most are, aren’t they), never thought they’d have to make a decision or deal with this because they would be able to hide behind Roe v Wade. Now they can’t.
If one looks closer at some of the things that effect every day Georgians, like all the tax breaks that are given out to companies, Kemp and Abrams are in lock step with each other while most of Georgia doesn’t want them.
Movie industry gets $1,500,000,000 a year, every year, up from the orginal $800,000,000. Folks, other than the liberal/hipsters in Atlanta/Athens/Decatur don’t want it. And of course, ALL the liberal movie folks that have moved here from NY and California love it. Both things Kemp and Abrams support. And a considerable amount of money for Abrams came from these people.
$1,500,000,000 to an electric car company that no one wants, will not bring 15,000 jobs to the area, will ruin 2000 acres of pristine farm land, a company partly owned by Soros and the entire deal done in secret. And Soros is already working down here, anyway, supporting Abrams. Both things Kemp and Abrams support.
So many voters on here and in the state talk about his response to COVID and not keeping the state locked down. That was two years ago. This is now. If the only reason they support Kemp is because of COVID, then they need to take a long hard look in the mirror.
Others will say that he signed the Constitutional Carry law. Big whoops. If anyone watched his absolutely ridiculous campaign ad about guns in 2018, Constitutional Carry should have been a no-brainer. Instead, he waited until he had a primary opponent to appease the gun folks in the state.
The list could go on. Kemp is a wholesale RINO/GOPe/Chamber of Commerce Puppet/POS, who so bad wants to be in The Club. He wants to replace Huchtinson on the liberal Sunday morning talk shows and CNN. In this case he truly is the absolute lesser of two evils.
Probably so.
“ making sure that especially minority-owned businesses and our rural businesses get access to contracts.”
IOW, black first. We got you, Stacy.
She will have her a** handed to her. And that is the rather large margin!
Can’t wait for Stacy Abrams to go down, with a larger margin than she went down last election.
She’ll scream, stamp her feet and refuse to concede- as she did last time - screaming that the election was “rigged against her” - while the media lap up everything she says as gospel.
Will be a sweet victory, almost as good as the one where the Witch of Missouri, Claire McCaskill, went down to Josh Hawley.
“Hawley had 53 percent of the vote to McCaskill’s 44 percent.”
IF women are “IN SUCH DANGER”-—they need to keep their legs together.
They are playing the pregnancy Lottery, IMO.
They do not wish to take birth control pills-—which are available OTC.
They do not wish to be firm about the use of condoms-—
They get pregnant & THEN they are using abortion as a birth control method.
IF they don’t abort-—they end up screaming at the ‘baby daddy’ on The Maury Show, demanding child support.
RESPONSIBILITY for their actions doesn’t happen.
Merriam Webster captures "unctious" @ https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unctuous
1: having, revealing, or marked by a smug, ingratiating, and false earnestness or spirituality 2a: FATTY, OILY 2b: smooth and greasy in texture or appearance
WELL PLAYED!
REPUBLICANS ARE NOT DEMOCRATS!
Democrats are an anti-American party of chaos, crime, carnage, corruption, rioting and DEATH!
There is NO reason to EVER VOTE DEMOCRAT!
Unless you hate America!
;-)
Vote Kemp Out.
End his career.
As a fake conservative deep state anti Maga who was involved in the 2020 election fraud he is way more dangerous that the blob could ever be.
Walker’s done nothing to push back. GOP pac ads focus in tying Warnock to Biden and inflation. That’s the only avenue for Walker and I don’t think it’ll be enough. I voted against Warnock, not for Walker.
Seems like you are still in California looking at your profile. Mind your business lol
She’ll need 2 wheelbarrows
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