CUMMING, Ga. — The two major candidates for Georgia governor held rallies in metro Atlanta Tuesday to try and get more voters ahead of next week.
Republican incumbent Brian Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams talked up completely different issues as they tried to get their voters to the polls.
Gov. Kemp held a rally with former Vice President Mike Pence at an old gas station converted into a cigar store in downtown Cumming.
Abrams’ appearance at the now-closed Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center coincided with workers behind her taking down the signage that marked the landmark hospital east of downtown Atlanta.
"The Atlanta Medical Center, previously Georgia Baptist, survived one 120 years but it could not survive four years of Brian Kemp," Abrams said, faulting Kemp for preventing Georgia from expanding Medicaid with federal money that she says would have delivered health insurance to tens of thousands of Georgians and kept the hospital open.
Kemp hotly disputes that Medicaid expansion would have saved the Atlanta Medical Center.
Kemp was with former vice president Mike Pence – two Republicans estranged from their one-time benefactor former President Donald Trump, after they both declined to help Trump overturn the 2020 election.
"I can honestly say I was for Brian Kemp before it was cool," Pence told a crowd of more than 200 people outside the downtown cigar store.
Pence now appears to have a strong following among Republicans disaffected by Trump's final days as president.
"I think he's a wonderful guy and I’m so proud of what he did on Jan. 6," said Forsyth County voter Mary Foster when asked about Pence.
Pence and Kemp didn’t mention health care but did talk about fighting crime and inflation. Kemp attributes his lead in the polls over Abrams to the work his campaign has done flipping traditional Democrats.
"We are going into the African American vote and saying, 'who kept your business open? Who is fighting for you? Who was fighting to get your kids in the classroom? Who is fighting to keep your neighborhoods safe?'" Kemp said.
Both candidates talked up issues important to the voters they want to nudge to the polls between now and Nov. 8.