Kemp’s GOP Allies Attack Abrams for Being Bipartisan Leader on Republican Bills

Ad uplifts Abrams’ work with GOP on bills that Republican governor “praised” and passed with bipartisan support

The Republican Governors Association released a new ad this morning aiming to attack Stacey Abrams for…her bipartisan work with Republican legislators on bills sponsored by GOP members of the state legislature, one of which was signed into law by former Republican governor Nathan Deal.

The ad references a 2015 bill sponsored by Republicans that funded much-needed transportation projects. Abrams supported the bill alongside Republicans, and it passed in the Georgia House by a margin of 129-41 before being signed into law by Governor Nathan Deal, who “praised lawmakers” for the bill which he claimed, “simply says Georgia is a state that’s growing.”

The ad also references a 2017 bill put forth by Republicans which aimed to make sure rideshare networks like Uber and Lyft paid their fair share in taxes like Georgia-based taxi services do. Abrams voted alongside Republicans in support of the bill, which passed with a margin of 106-60 with bipartisan support. GOP State Representative Alan Powell defended the legislation, saying Uber and Lyft should already be charging taxes like any other business and claimed that Georgia taxpayers “should be offended” and “irate” that “large national companies…are taking advantage of taxpayers in this state.”

The Democratic Party of Georgia released the following statement in response:

“We welcome Brian Kemp and his GOP allies’ help reminding voters of Stacey’s work as a bipartisan leader in the legislature, such as her support of the GOP-sponsored bills referenced in their new ad. Stacey is a tax attorney who stopped the largest tax increase in state history, while Brian Kemp is sending our tax dollars to other states by refusing to expand Medicaid and has continuously refused to weigh in on the Republican plan to increase taxes on forty percent of Georgian families,” said Max Flugrath, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia.

Kemp also released an ad earlier this month which accidentally praised Abrams for stopping a tax increase on 82% of Georgia families. One of the ad’s few citations referenced a 2018 Atlanta Journal-Constitution article that details how Abrams assembled a bipartisan coalition to stop a 2011 Republican bill that “worked out to be an increase on the average middle-class taxpayer.” Abrams “single-handedly stopped the largest tax increase in Georgia history.”

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