Kemp maintains his lead over Abrams while the final votes have been counted

Republican Brian Kemp maintained his lead over Democrat Stacey Abrams early on Wednesday, as the results of the last election reflected on the Georgian governor's leadership race.

Kemp said he was confident that his slim edge over Abrams was insurmountable and his allies urged him to declare victory. But Abrams said she would not concede the race before other ballots were counted, and her campaign issued a morning memo outlining the narrow path that leads to the second round.

"We will continue to work hard until the end. We will fight for every vote, as I will for you as governor, "she said early Wednesday. "And that means we have to monitor the process to ensure that these elections are conducted fairly."

Republican Brian Kemp expresses himself at his election observation evening. AJC / Hyosub Shin

She asked supporters to prepare for a second round, which is necessary if neither candidate gets the majority margin they need to win the race. There has never been a run-off to the governor in Georgian history, but 1% of libertarian Ted Metz contributed to this eventuality.

The race was considerably closer overnight, Kemp's lead on more than 100,000 being reduced to around 70,000. With almost all the polling stations reported, the Abrams campaign gave hope that a very small number of ballots by mail and an unknown number of provisional ballots abroad.

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Kemp made no public statement on Wednesday about tightening the margin of the race, but had previously said his "very strong lead" would continue. "The calculation is on our side," he added.

It could be days before the final election results are certified. And the legal teams on both sides were preparing for challenges.

Georgia Democratic candidate for governorship Stacey Abrams
(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press.)

A second round on December 4 would draw even more national attention to the clash between Kemp and Abrams, who are competing to become the country's first black governor. And that would ensure that the most expensive election of governors in the history of states is even more expensive.

Other competitions also came together overnight. Democrat Lucy McBath took a slight lead over Republican Republican Karen Handel in Georgia's 6th district, while Republican Rob Woodall took a narrow lead over Democrat Carolyn Bourdeaux.

Two other state-wide races appeared to be in the second round: the match between Republican Brad Raffensperger and Democrat John Barrow, Secretary-Secretary, and a match of the Public Service Commission between the outgoing President Chuck Eaton and Democrat Lindy Miller.

Kemp has created a colossal lead in rural Georgia, getting a higher voice share than even President Donald Trump in some of the state's most red-hot bastions. At times of countdown, he dominated Abrams with more than 300,000 votes – before the many democratic ballots on the Atlanta subway show up.

As Georgia's conservative parties have become redder, Georgia's liberal strongholds have become even more blue. Hillary Clinton won DeKalb County – the state's largest democratic fortress – with 79% of the vote in 2016. Abrams votes have so far exceeded 83%.

Abrams also crossed the suburbs of Atlanta to carry Cobb and Gwinnett counties, two former GOP bastions that became blue for the first time in decades in 2016. She also narrowly won Henry County, a another suburban county that has gone from reliable red to perpetual purple.

At the bottom of the ticket, the Republicans got themselves in the suburbs. The three seats held by the GOP at DeKalb went to the Democrats and the powerful holders at Cobb, Fulton and Gwinnett fell into flames while the free seats went back to the young Democratic challengers.