One Man’s Opinion: Our Governor, And We’d Like to Keep Him

By Bill Crane

I first met Brian Kemp as a young state senator from Athens, Georgia. He was also an agri-businessman, developer, and homebuilder. After four years in the state senate, Kemp ran for agriculture commissioner in 2006, finishing second in the GOP Primary to Gary Black, who won the general election that fall. In 2010, when Secretary of State Karen Handel resigned to run for governor, Governor Sonny Perdue appointed Kemp to the position. Kemp served there ably, and was re-elected to two full terms in 2010 and again in 2014. During 2017/2018, he began an underdog GOP campaign for governor, with the odd’s-on favorite at the time being popular GOP Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle. But later, the Cagle campaign was stumbling, atop flat debate performances aided by a troubling recording in circulation of a conversation that Cagle thought was private. Former Governor Sonny Perdue was now in the Trump Administration Cabinet as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. Toward the end of a Cabinet meeting and before that runoff, Secretary Perdue reportedly told President Donald Trump that he should look at the Georgia governor’s race and perhaps get involved. U.S. Senator David Perdue (R-GA), a Trump ally and the former governor’s first cousin, seconded that advice. Without ever meeting or speaking to Kemp per- sonally, Trump tweeted his endorsement of the secretary of state, giving a well-timed boost to Kemp’s campaign heading into the runoff. Kemp would handily carry (69-31%) all but two counties of Georgia’s 159, including Cagle’s home county of Hall. It was a harsh beatdown for the lieutenant governor.

Kemp headed into the fall campaign against a well-funded and increasingly national political figure, former State House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams. Abrams would be exceedingly critical of Kemp not resigning as secretary of state during the campaign. While Karen Handel had resigned during the 2010 campaign, two other Democrats, Secretary of State Cathy Cox and Secretary of State Lewis Massey, had each campaigned for governor while holding the office, losing out in the Democratic primary or runoff. Though Georgia elections are administered by county election superintendents and boards of election, the secretary of state oversees the election process, whose office also reviews/investigates allegations of irregularities or voter fraud. The secretary of state in Georgia also does not TABULATE votes, only reporting out the unofficial tallies and later certifying the results received from each county.

The 2018 gubernatorial contest was close; roughly 58,000 votes separated Abrams and Kemp. Kemp was sworn in, but Abrams never conceded and continued to allege voter suppression and related irregularities which cost her a contest that she actually “won.” This may sound familiar when I speak later of Donald Trump and the 2020 contest in Georgia.

During 2020, Kemp campaigned for Trump’s re-election, though the incumbent president was critical of Kemp re-opening Georgia “too soon,” and other disagreements over the appointment of a successor to retiring U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA). Trump favored Congressman Doug Collins (R-District 14), but Kemp instead appointed political newcomer and entrepreneur Kelly Loeffler as the interim senator. Trump’s re-election would top the GOP ticket that November 2020, along with two GOP senators, David Perdue and interim Senator Loeffler. Of those three, Senator Perdue would receive the highest ballot count, as Trump, Perdue, and Loeffler each eventually lost their respective races.

Continued on page 19