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Stacey Abrams, Democratic candidate for the governorship of Georgia, expresses herself under the opposite gaze of her Republican opponent, the Georgian State Secretary Brian Kemp, during a debate Tuesday in Atlanta. (John Bazemore / AP)
Candidates for the highly contested and closely watched Georgia governor's competition held out in their political corner on Tuesday night in a debate that touched on some of the ideological divisions at the national level.
Stacey Abrams, Democratic candidate who hopes to become the first black female governor of the country, talked about Medicaid's expansion, as well as the electorate, accusing Republican Brian Kemp, secretary of state of Georgia, to sow fear in the growing minority population of the state making it harder to vote.
Kemp talked about cutting taxes and "giving priority to Georgians", accusing Abrams of wanting to allow undocumented young immigrants to participate in a state-funded scholarship program and declaring that she encourages "illegals" to vote.
Everyone has continually accused the other of misrepresenting his positions, but the one – hour debate was not grudging and offered no surprises. Kemp and Abrams are in a statistical dead heat in the polling stations only two weeks before polling day. The libertarian candidate Ted Metz, who had obtained support of about 2% in a recent survey conducted by Atlanta Journal Constitution and Channel 2 of Atlanta, also participated in the debate. Seven percent of voters are undecided.
Kemp, who upset the GOP candidate, Lt. Governor Casey Cagle last summer after being approved by President Trump, was less optimistic than he had been at the time. primary, when he broadcast television ads in which he threatened to use his truck to collect "illegal criminals" and brandishing a shotgun on a teenager to show his support for the second amendment.
But he stressed his strong conservative positions, promising to cut taxes, fight crime and limit services to undocumented immigrants. He frequently used the words "extreme" and "radical" to describe Abrams and his proposals. He said his proposals for expanded government programs would raise taxes, and he warned that his call for a Medicaid expansion would equate to "a government takeover of health care", removing private insurance and Medicare. "You will not be able to choose your doctor," he said, echoing the arguments against the Affordable Care Act.
Abrams argued that no less a conservative standard-bearer than Vice President Pence had embraced the expansion of Medicaid when he was Governor of Indiana. She also expressed confidence that she could get the approval of the extension by the legislature of a Republican majority state because as a former Democratic leader of the House from the state, she demonstrated that she could work on the other side.
Kemp said that he would increase teachers' salaries. Abrams has called for pay increases for local police officers who, she says, are so poorly paid that they use vouchers to feed their families.
The debate took place the day news began circulating that Abrams had participated in a student demonstration in 1992 when the state's flag had been burned. At the time, the banner included an image of the Confederate flag, considered by many to represent the resistance of the South at the end of slavery.
The first question for Abrams was about her participation in the event and she did not get away from it.
"Twenty-six years ago, as a freshman at the university, I was deeply troubled, along with many other Georgians, by the racial division that was anchored in the flag. of the state with this confederate symbol, "said Abrams. "I took part in a peaceful protest action and, ten years later, my opponent, Brian Kemp, voted in favor of eliminating this symbol."
Kemp did not respond, but he criticized Abrams more than once for his unpaid personal and professional taxes. At the same time, he added, Abrams lent $ 50,000 to his campaign. "I do not think I could get out of it, and most Georgians could not get away with it," he said, accusing Abrams of putting "politics over obligations".
Abrams revealed several months ago that she was late on her taxes, claiming that she had provided financial assistance to her family, including her father, who was battling cancer. "You can defer your taxes, but you can not defer your cancer treatments," she retorted, adding that she had a repayment plan to settle her tax debt.
She also took a shot at Kemp, who is being sued by an investment company for failing to repay a $ 500,000 loan for a farming business. Kemp said the complaint was directed against the company, not against him personally.
The Georgian state secretary, Brian Kemp, the Republican government's governorship candidate, is speaking as Democratic candidate, Stacey Abrams and libertarian Ted Metz, during a debate Tuesday in Atlanta. (John Bazemore / AP)
The two men also competed for the right to vote, which became a turning point in the race. Abrams wants to mobilize voters of color who often do not participate in the mid-term elections. The Associated Press reported this month that 53,000 potential voters had been blocked because their names or addresses did not exactly match the information in motor vehicle or social security registries. His office is also under fire from critics because hundreds of ballot papers have been rejected, most of them voted by minority voters. Several civil rights groups have filed lawsuits against the Secretary of State in the past two weeks.
[[[[In Georgia, the governor's race evokes the old tensions related to voting and race]
Kemp vehemently defended his status as a senior election official in the state, saying the number of voters had increased during his tenure and voters who had been registered could still vote if they presented a coin. identity valid at the poll. In response to a question from one of the panelists, he stated that he did not see the need to resign or recuse himself from overseeing the elections as most election activities were managed at the county level. by bipartite advice.
"No one has made voting easier and harder to cheat in our state," Kemp said, calling the allegations of abolition of "electorate" elections truly scandalous ".
Abrams said voters' lists had increased despite, and not because of Kemp, who had also aggressively eliminated voters, half a million of whom last year, about a quarter of whom seem to have been abandoned simply because that they had not voted in previous elections, according to a recent survey conducted by APM Reports.
"It's not just about preventing people from voting physically," said Abrams, adding, "It's about creating an atmosphere in which their votes do not count. "
Throughout the debate, Metz criticized the two candidates, proposing themselves as an alternative to voters "tired of the two-party system and the tyranny of the oligarchs".
Asked how he would develop economic activity in rural Georgia, Metz welcomed the opportunities offered by industrial hemp, whose applications could be as diverse as clean air and the manufacture of food preparations. infants.
"Everything can be done with hemp," he said.
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