Republican Gov. Brian Kemp appeared headed toward winning a second term in office Tuesday with 90% of the vote counted as of 11:45 p.m.
Tuesday night, Kemp was leading Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams, 53.7% to 45.6%%, according to unofficial results, well above the 50%-plus-one margin needed to avoid a runoff next month. Libertarian Shane Hazel was running a distant third with just 0.7% of the vote.
“I appreciate the strong grassroots supporters we have had, literally from Claxton to Calhoun,” Kemp told a cheering crowd at the Coca-Cola Roxy across from Truist Park. “We would not be here without you. Thank you so much.” Throughout the campaign, a rematch of the 2018 gubernatorial race, Kemp stressed his record of leading Georgia’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. He credited the rebound to his decision to reopen businesses shut down by the virus sooner than governors in other states.
Kemp also touted his record on crime, including the creation of a multiagency Crime Suppression Unit last year in the wake of a crime wave spawned by the pandemic and, more recently, the formation of a Gang Prosecution Unit in the attorney general’s office to target criminal street gangs.
Kemp and Abrams tussled over an election- reform law Abrams blasted as a voter suppression measure concocted by Republicans last year following Democratic wins in Georgia in 2020 and at the beginning of 2021.