ATLANTA -- A strange thing happens when someone types in "BrianKemp.com" -- a web address one might reasonably assume would go to the site of the GOP nominee in the race to become Georgia's governor.
Instead, the domain redirects to the website of Stacey Abrams, Kemp's Democratic foe in the November election.
One might think that Kemp's site was hacked, but that doesn't appear to be the case. Kemp's official site is KempForGovernor.com and has been since he announced his candidacy back in April 2017.
What appears more likely is that someone simply bought the domain before Kemp's campaign could lock it up. Either Abrams' campaign, an Abrams' supporter -- or someone anti-Kemp -- then was able to get ahold of it and set up the redirect.
According to a WHOis.net search, the domain was created back in 1999. A web archive search through internet archive WayBack Machine shows that the site remained relatively dormant until 2013. That's when the archives shows a California public relations manager named Brian Kemp (apparently unrelated) began using the domain. He used it until at least July 2017.
A WHOis.net search of the site reveals that someone updated the domain through namecheap.com back in January.
In April 2018, the site began linking to a series of anti-Kemp articles, mainly focusing on possible data breaches that occurred while Kemp was the Secretary of State.
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Sometime in August is appears that the site began redirecting to Abrams' site.
11Alive has reached out to both camps to see what insights they can offer on the matter. Those responses will be posted here once they are received.
Shortly after announcing his candidacy for the governor, Kemp came under fire for allegedly using his official Secretary of State website to campaign purposes. Last month, an 11Alive viewer claimed a link in the Secretary of State's app directed voters to Kemp's social media accounts. Kemp's office called that "fake news", saying, "It's common for elected officials to use their social media accounts for official, political, and personal content."
