Facing Trump Onslaught, Brian Kemp Files for #GAGOV Race

Today, Brian Kemp officially filed paperwork to run for a second term, facing an all-out battle while Donald Trump and David Perdue ratchet up attacks against him in the brutal and bitter GOP fight. Threatened by increasing attacks from Trump, Kemp has embraced extreme policies and focused his campaign on bashing Perdue.

As Trump becomes increasingly involved in this bruising primary, attacking Kemp regularly and calling for his defeat, Kemp is doubling down on unpopular and extreme policies like:

• Permit-less carry, which would make it easier to carry hidden, loaded handguns in public — without a permit and its background check process — and is opposed by 70% of Georgians.
• Anti-education legislation, which pits parents against teachers, threatened to defund schools, and jeopardizes Georgia kids’ education.
• Overturning Roe v. Wade, opposed by 68% of Georgians.

Kemp has consistently refused to expand Medicaid, which would provide over 500,000 Georgians with access to affordable health care and create 64,000 jobs, including about 22,000 in health care. During his term, Kemp has also overseen massive cuts of $1.6 billion to public education, only restoring his cuts after an influx of funding from the American Rescue Plan.

From Kemp’s early attacks against Perdue for enriching himself while outsourcing American jobs to China, to Perdue’s criticisms of Kemp for not standing with Trump on his 2020 election conspiracies, to lawsuits and ethics complaints and attempts by Kemp allies to create a new law that would stop Perdue from fundraising for months, the infighting has been the focus of the GOP gubernatorial primary, taking precedence over issues which are important to Georgia families.

“Facing constant attacks from Trump and Perdue, Kemp is desperately using Georgia’s legislative session as a political tool in this nasty primary, pushing extreme policies that attack teachers, politicize kids’ education, and will bring more guns to our streets and more gun violence to our communities. Kemp’s embrace of unpopular, harmful policies and opposition to life-saving initiatives like Medicaid expansion that would benefit Georgia’s working families, tells us all we need to know — he’s a typical politician, more concerned with his political survival than the well-being of his constituents,” stated Max Flugrath, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia.

Faced with a continuous onslaught from Trump, Kemp is being forced to shell out millions on TV ads to defend himself. Kemp is spending $4.2 million, while the Republican Governors Association is spending over $530,000 on TV ads to defend against Perdue’s Trump-backed attacks. It’s the first time the RGA has purchased airtime in support of an incumbent governor in a primary election.

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