ATLANTA — Some Georgia Republicans are getting started early on the 2022 campaign for governor. Backers of Gov. Brian Kemp have produced a website targeting Democrat Stacey Abrams -- a likely candidate for governor in next year's race.
So far, nobody -- except Kemp -- has said they’re running for governor next year. But the new website, StopStacey.org, shows that Republicans are already worried about Abrams.
Brian Kemp won the governor’s race in 2018. Stacey Abrams lost.
But since then, Abrams has had an exceptionally high profile on national TV talk shows, in national publications – and in Democratic fundraising circles.
Abrams has received credit for helping to push Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to victory in last month’s US Senate runoff contests.
If she does run for governor next year, Republicans expect her to be extraordinarily well-funded – perhaps even more so than the sitting governor.
Republican strategist Brian Robinson predicts Abrams will have, "unlimited funds to not only define herself, but tell her story and present her campaign to Georgia voters -- but she’s also got a fawning national media that Brian Kemp would never be able to compete with."
Robinson is not among the Republicans behind the anti-Abrams website.
The site depicts Abrams as a Democrat who would raise taxes and advance socialism – familiar themes in the GOP’s marketing playbook.
Robinson says the site will try to turn Abrams' national profile into a fundraising tool for Republicans, to funnel national money into Georgia's GOP effort to keep the governor's office in Republican hands.
It’s not absolutely clear that Abrams is actually running for governor as of this point. There's no comment from her camp.
Nor is it absolutely clear that Kemp will be the Republican nominee. He is fully expecting a Republican challenger with backing from former President Donald Trump.