The spotlight is on Stacey Abrams and Brian Kemp, as well as the cops, weapons, and voting suppression.
A heated debate between Stacey Abrams and Gov. Brian Kemp took place on Monday night. The topic of the debate was support for law enforcement, the Second Amendment, and allegations of voter suppression.
The Atlanta Press Club held the debate, which was the first time the two contenders had faced up since their initial 2018 contest. Candidate Shane Hazel of the Libertarian Party was also present.
The question of whether Abrams would accept the results of this election was raised early in the argument in relation to her failure to concede to Kemp in the 2018 election, which revealed she lost by fewer than 60,000 votes. In response, Abrams stated that while she “acknowledged” Kemp’s victory in the 2018 election, she cited several instances in which she believed Georgian voters were denied the opportunity to cast ballots in that year.
“If elected governor, I’ll defend the right to vote. While claiming Kemp was using Georgia’s voting system to stifle voters, Abrams continued, “I will always acknowledge the outcome of elections, but I will never restrict access to every voter because it is the obligation of every American, to preserve the right to vote.
Early on in the debate, Abrams was questioned about her unwillingness to surrender to Kemp in the previous election, which indicated that she lost by fewer than 60,000 votes, and whether or not she would accept the outcomes of this one. In her response, Abrams stated that while she “acknowledged” Kemp’s victory in the 2018 election, she also cited a number of incidents in which she believed Georgian voters were denied the opportunity to cast ballots in that year.
“I plan to defend the right to vote if elected governor. Asserting that Kemp was stifling voting in Georgia, Abrams stated, “I will always recognize the outcome of elections, but I would never restrict access to every voter because that is the obligation of every American.
STACEY ABRAMS AND BETO O’ROURKE, 2018 MEDIA DARLINGS, ARE HAVING PROBLEMS RECAPTURING THE “MAGIC” OF THE PRESS.
The Atlanta Press Club debated the Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia, Stacey Abrams, and the Republican incumbent, Gov. Brian Kemp, on October 17, 2022.
Kemp claimed Abrams was going to criticize his record “because she doesn’t want to speak about her own record” when given the chance to respond to Abrams’ response.
Before mentioning the election reform he signed into law last year that Abrams termed “Jim Crow 2.0,” he remarked, “In 2018 in the governor’s race we had the most African American turnout in the country.”
“Just this past May, we had record turnout in both the Republican and Democratic primaries for our elections. In Georgia, voting is simple and voting fraud is difficult, he continued.
In response, Abrams shot off Kemp’s assertion, calling “voter suppression” “the hallmark of Brian Kemp’s leadership.”
WAS STACEY ABRAMS’ ELECTION IN 2018 A THEFT? Georgia voters refuse to give up on a refuted claim.
Kemp noted how many sheriffs across the state had endorsed his campaign and questioned Abrams about how many had endorsed her during a section of the debate where candidates could ask each other questions.
Abrams asserted that Kemp was trying “to continue the myth” that she opposed law enforcement and went on to highlight work she has done with police while working for the city of Atlanta.
“Ms. Abrams declined to respond, so I’ll just let you know that the answer is zero,” Kemp said, going on to list the associations she had with groups he said supported the “Defund the Police” movement. Kemp was charged with lying, and Abrams reiterated that she had law enforcement’s backing.
Following a rally with the Asian-American community in Gwinnett County, Georgia, on October 7, 2022, Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia Stacey Abrams chats with Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie.
Abrams attacked Kemp later in the discussion for “weakening” Georgia’s gun regulations and “flooding” the streets with more weapons, which she claimed was a factor in the rise in gun crimes in the state.
Kemp stated that he was targeting gun crime offenders and that his public safety plan called for tougher punishments for gang leaders who were enlisting the help of young children.
Referencing the fatal shooting by suspected culprit Robert Aaron Long that year that left eight people dead, Abrams stated that street gangs weren’t the ones who bought a gun and massacred a number of Asian ladies in three spas in the Atlanta region.
She said that, among the candidates, she was the only one advocating for grants to pay for the hiring of additional police officers to address the surge in crime.
THOUSANDS ARE FUNNELED BY STACEY ABRAMS’ GROUP TO THE DIRECTOR’S FAMILY AND FRIENDS WITHOUT ANY POLITICAL EXPERIENCE.
Abrams said, “I believe we can defend the Second Amendment and second-graders at the same same time,” to Hazel’s criticism that he wanted stricter gun legislation.
The previous president Ronald Reagan words were then used to emphasize her demands to strengthen the background check procedure for firearm transactions. “Believe, but verify,” she said.
Kemp responded by pointing out that there are federal background checks in place for buying guns, but Abrams countered that this isn’t the case for private gun purchases.
On May 24, 2022, in Atlanta, Georgia, Republican incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp waves as he attends a party at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame for his primary night election.
