ATLANTA — After Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams squared off in the first gubernatorial debate on Oct. 17, the two go head-to-head once again for the final time on Sunday night.
Except this time they'll do so with more than 1.5 million early-voters having already cast their ballots in Georgia, a record that the state continues to shatter by the day.
In the first debate, the two painted different visions for the future of Georgia, clashing on the economy, crime, voting and education as they debated the night after more than 100,000 Georgians swarmed to the polls of the first day of early voting.
This is arguably a more important debate for Abrams, who trailed the incumbent 47% to 45% in an 11Alive poll released at the beginning of the month -- a result largely consistent with 11Alive's previous poll on this race in July, which showed him ahead 45% to 44%. However, polling averages from FiveThirtyEight, a website that focuses on opinion poll analysis and politics show that Kemp holds a 51 to 44% advantage -- a much larger margin.
Abrams is coming off of a campaign rally in Douglasville where she spoke about moving Georgia forward, a plan that includes raising teacher's salaries and wanting to expand financial aid and create free technical schools, in addition to expanded healthcare.
“We need a governor who is working with an insurance commissioner who’s going to put insurance cards in the pockets of half a million Georgians to save the lives of our people and lift up our communities and create 64,000 good-paying jobs," Abrams said. "That’s what Medicaid expansion will do.”
Abrams, who campaigned Friday with former President Barack Obama, also expressed concern about how the closure of Atlanta Medical Center will affect people in need.
On the other side, Kemp reminded voters in the first debate that he had delivered billions in tax relief and rebates to millions of Georgians, crediting his decision to reopen Georgia’s economy amid the pandemic for the state’s financial strength and repeatedly blaming Democrats for economic difficulties.
“My desire is to continue to help them fight through 40-year high inflation and high gas prices and other things that our Georgia families are facing right now financially because of bad policies in Washington, D.C., where President Biden and the Democrats have complete control," he said.
The debate is Sunday at 7 p.m.
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