Brian Kemp wins Georgia governor election 2022 - MSNBC

It’s déjà vu successful Georgia, wherever Republican Gov. Brian Kemp won his rematch against Democrat Stacey Abrams, NBC News projects. Kemp spent the bulk of the contention polling up of Abrams, leaning connected his grounds successful bureau to batter backmost his challenger’s attacks.

Kemp stands retired among the Republicans connected the ballot this twelvemonth for the relation helium played successful the aftermath of the 2020 election. When Georgia’s voters narrowly went for Joe Biden, President Donald Trump tried to unit Kemp and different authorities officials to invalidate the election’s results. Kemp refused to spell on with Trump astatine the clip and handily defeated David Purdue successful the GOP superior this May.

Keeping Trump astatine arm’s magnitude allowed Kemp to forge his ain way successful the race, some hyping his blimpish credentials and appealing to mean suburban voters. In his 2 debates with Abrams, Kemp kept the absorption connected the state’s economy, highlighting that helium was 1 of the archetypal governors to bid businesses to beryllium reopened during the pandemic. He besides dodged a question astir whether helium would sign a measure that would outlaw termination entirely if 1 came to his desk. (Current Georgia instrumentality bans abortions aft six weeks of pregnancy.)

It volition beryllium a portion earlier the afloat predetermination information tin beryllium analyzed, but it volition beryllium worthy seeing however voting patterns compared to those successful 2020, erstwhile Abrams helped flip the typically deep-red authorities blue. Since then, Georgia’s Legislature has passed — and Kemp has signed — a law restricting voters’ quality to formed their ballots, a instrumentality that Kemp defends arsenic making it “easy to ballot and hard to cheat.” Kemp has cited precocious turnout up of Election Day arsenic a motion that the instrumentality isn’t suppressing votes, but a breakdown of the results should spot whether that assertion pans out.