Well, in Georgia, the fight is over. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has finally admitted defeat. Republican Brian Kemp is expected to officially become the governor-elect after a long and contentious battle over provisional and absentee ballots. The Kemp lead Abrams50/48, and that never really was chipped away in the days after Election Day. Abrams was trying to muster enough votes to trigger a recount or a runoff, which would have been held on December 4. She needed 19,300 additional votes to initiate a recount and 21,700 for a runoff; it was pie-in-the-sky. Yet, last weekend, Democrats toutednew absentee ballots(funny how new ballots keep popping up) that numbered in the thousands that could sink the GOP. It didn’t. Simply put, Kemp beat her (via Politico):
Democrat Stacey Abrams announced Friday that Brian Kemp, her Republican opponent in the Georgia gubernatorial race, would be certified as governor.
"I acknowledge that former Secretary of State Brian Kemp will be certified as the victor in the 2018 gubernatorial election," Abrams said at a press conference Friday, effectively conceding that she lost the race.
The Washington Post reported that the Abrams campaign was mulling more legal action to spur another round of voting earlier today. The Kemp campaign had called the move a “sad and desperate” ploy:
Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is considering asking a court to intervene in her race against Republican Brian Kemp and order an extraordinary second round of voting in response to charges of election irregularities.
The long-shot strategy, first reported by the Associated Press, comes as Georgia elections officials appear to be poised to certify Kemp as the winner in the hard-fought contest as early as Friday.
If Abrams moves forward, she would rely on a provision in Georgia law that has never been utilized in such a high-profile contest. It allows losing candidates to challenge results based on “misconduct, fraud or irregularities .?.?. sufficient to change or place in doubt the results.” The decision could ultimately fall to the state’s Supreme Court.
So, this contest is over. In Florida, it’s still a debacle, with the Senate race heading to a hand recount, but in their gubernatorial contest, Republican Ron DeSantis is expected to be declared the winner over Democrat Andrew Gillum.
Some Democrats have said that if the GOP wins in Georgia, it’s because they stole the race. Ironic since it seems Democrats actually tried to steal the Florida elections.
