For several weeks now, anyone who truly cares about the state of our country has watched in horror and disbelief at how Brian Kemp, Georgia’s secretary of state and Republican candidate for governor, makes every attempt to suppress votes and steal the election for himself. Each week, the story seemingly gets worse—tens of thousands of voter registration applications put on hold, hundreds of thousands more registered voters purged from the voting rolls in a single day, and on and on. And just when we thought Kemp couldn’t sink any lower or be more despicable, he actually does it.
On Tuesday, Rolling Stone reported that it had obtained leaked audio of Kemp at a campaign event expressing concern for his candidacy about what would happen “if everybody uses and exercises their right to vote.” At the event, ironically titled “Georgia Professionals for Kemp,” the Republican worries aloud that early voting and Democrat Stacey Abrams’ campaign’s enormous get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts pose a threat to a possible Kemp win.
Kemp then asserted that much of that Abrams effort is focused on absentee ballot requests. “They have just an unprecedented number of that,” he said, “which is something that continues to concern us, especially if everybody uses and exercises their right to vote — which they absolutely can — and mail those ballots in, we gotta have heavy turnout to offset that.”
To be clear, there is absolutely nothing remotely “professional” about this, hence the ridiculousness of the campaign event’s name. In fact, it’s evidence of Kemp’s fraud and corruption. Brian Kemp is using his position as the person who oversees elections in Georgia, a job that is taxpayer-funded, in order to deny Georgia residents the right to vote. And he was actually recorded saying it!
This should be an outrage to everyone who values democracy. It should have been an outrage to everyone who was in that room. If a candidate can’t win on his own, without cheating, he simply does not belong in the race. And Brian Kemp most certainly should not still have a job! Though he refuses to do so, he should resign immediately.
Everything Kemp is doing to win this race has becoming increasingly obvious. He doesn’t want Georgians to have a choice but instead is anointing himself the state’s next executive. Thankfully, there was one brave person who recorded his admitted voter suppression and turned it over to the media. But if you are looking for Kemp to admit that he’s a liar and a cheat, he won’t. In fact, the entire Kemp operation is pretending none of this ever happened.
On Tuesday morning, a member of the Kemp campaign confirmed that the event took place, but the campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the specific remarks. On Monday evening, a Facebook page for the event was removed from public view.
If Stacey Abrams does not win the Georgia gubernatorial race on Nov. 6, we’ll never truly know if it was simply because the voters of the state chose her opponent instead. It likely won’t be, as Abrams is the clear choice in this race. Brian Kemp is determined to take Georgia back kicking and screaming to the days of Jim Crow, when black and brown voters had to pay with their blood in order to access the ballot box. Republicans have nothing to offer anyone—no solid ideas or policy. And they can’t expand their electorate with their racist, hateful agenda. So instead, they’ve chosen to cheat their way to power. There’s no way we should let them have it.
Please chip in $3 today to help elect Democrat Stacey Abrams and prevent Brian Kemp and the Republicans from continuing their voter suppression agenda.