Gov. Brian Kemp made a campaign stop in Evans Thursday, but he was focused on the November election instead of Tuesday’s Republican primary, where he holds a firm 32% polling lead over challenger David Perdue.
“People in Columbia County are appreciative that we had our businesses open, that we didn’t have mask mandates on our children, they are appreciative that we could have our schools open,” said Jodi Lott, a Georgia state House of Representative whose district includes Columbia County and who was Kemp’s floor leader during the 2021-2022 legislative session. “This is a Kemp country right here because clearly his choices have kept us thriving.”
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During the 90 minutes Kemp spent at the Evans Towne Center Park shaking hands, posing for pictures with children, giving a speech and talking to reporters he didn’t once mention Perdue’s name publicly. The only time he mentioned former Pres. Donald Trump, Kemp spoke positively, despite Trump targeting Kemp because he would not support Trump’s unfounded assertion that the 2020 presidential election was stolen in Georgia.
A Fox News poll released Wednesday shows Kemp with a 32% lead over Perdue, the former Georgia senator endorsed by Trump. Perdue lost to Sen. Jon Ossoff in the 2020 election. Tuesday May 24 is the end of voting for state primaries in Georgia. The winners go on to the general election on Nov. 8.
Kemp talked about his economic record, signing the bill that allows Georgians to carry a concealed handgun without a permit, budget surplus, keeping Georgia businesses and schools open and funding anti-gang initiatives, among other meat and potato issues. He saved his vitriol for the presumptive Democratic Partly candidate for Georgia governor, Stacey Abrams.
“We are in a fight for the soul of our state. And this family and myself, we are getting up every single day to make sure Stacey Abrams is not going to be your governor or your next president,” Kemp said, prompting screams and claps of support. “When I decided to open back up, the first state in the country, I caught unmerciful grief, from the press…from the health pundits and from Stacey Abrams, saying ‘It’s too soon. You don’t know what you are doing.’ Well, you know what? I wasn’t listening to them and I wasn’t listening to her. I was listening to you.”
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Kemp added:
“We’re running like we’re 10 points behind. We got so many stops between now and Tuesday to turn out the vote. I realize I cannot be the nominee if I do not win Tuesday,” he said. “That is what we are pushing hard for. We have been doing that for months. But make no mistake, I am in this race again, like I was before, to make sure Stacy Abrams does not become our governor and keep our state moving in the right direction.”
Columbia County is mostly Republican, with a small but growing Democrat-voting population mainly concentrated in Grovetown.
Kemp was backed by a long line of officials at Tuesday’s Evans campaign event. The supporters included Columbia County Sheriff Clay Whittle, Lincoln County Sheriff Paul Reviere, Georgia State Senators Max Burns and Lee Anderson, Georgia State Representatives Barry Fleming and Mark Newton, Lincoln County Commission Chairman Walker Norman, Columbia County Public Defender Mack Taylor, Columbia County Commissioner Connie Melear and Columbia County Planning Commission Chairman Jim Cox.
Joshua B. Good is a staff reporter covering Columbia County and military/veterans’ issues for The Augusta Press. Reach him at joshua@theaugustapress.com
