I had the privilege of participating in the July 24 run-off live election coverage on The Citizen Facebook page. We made a lot of predictions and most of them came to fruition.
We witnessed some phenomenal upsets of historical proportion. Back in May, gubernatorial candidate Casey Cagle had 39 percent of the primary votes in a five-man race. In most instances, you are going to be the winner with that high a percentage.
Next came one of the most bizarre turnarounds ever with Cagle receiving no support from any of the losing candidates, and one of them made a secret recording of Cagle explaining why voters should not trust him.
Governor Nathan Deal seemed to be giving endorsements that were the kiss of death. He put his stamp on front runner Casey Cagle and also on David Shafer in the lieutenant governor’s race. Both candidates had the most legislative experience, the most money and both were the favorites among those in the lobbyist community. Both Cagle and Shafer lost.
The endorsement from President Trump was merely the icing on the cake for Brian Kemp. Many behind the scenes credited Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue for landing the presidential endorsement.
A frustrated Lynn Westmoreland, a former U.S. House representative and a Cagle supporter, said on Twitter, “I’m betting President Trump wouldn’t know his pick for Georgia Governor if he got in a cab with him or pick him out of a two-person photo lineup! Makes you wonder [where] it came from.”
The race for governor between Brian Kemp and Stacy Abrams could be one of the most interesting in Georgia election history. Never have we had two candidates who are so far apart philosophically and funded on such different ends of the political spectrum.
Abrams is part of a unique campaign funding pool, including George Soros and left-leaning business elites from the San Francisco Bay area where the big local issues are banning plastic straws, allowing illegal immigrants to vote and trying to come up with a solution to keep significant numbers of homeless people from defecating on public sidewalks.
The only way Abrams can secure that type of funding is if she promises to walk on the extreme left side of the political spectrum.
Kemp appears, at least by his commercials, to be further on the right side of the scale. He certainly holds the record for most guns and explosions in a political TV ad. It looks as if the lobbyists who formerly bankrolled Cagle are now running to the Kemp campaign. Of course, the question is can Kemp keep his conservative independence while at the same time pocketing the money from the lobbyists?
Watch for major campaign fireworks on taxes and Medicaid expansion, with Abrams wanting to increase both and Kemp going the other way. All of the tax relief that Georgians received over the past year will vanish if Abrams gets her way on Medicaid expansion.
Kemp is an advocate of the Second Amendment protections while Abrams is all for taking them away. Likewise, when it comes to the First Amendment protection of religion, Kemp is an ardent supporter and Abrams wants to impose restrictions that would counter past legislative efforts aimed at protecting religious freedom.
Abrams would like to see the state become a major player and funder in metro Atlanta mass transit projects. The projects proposed are in the billions of dollars. In contrast, Kemp seems to be wondering why state needs to shell out that kind of cash when MARTA ridership is declining.
On the subject of illegal immigration, Abrams does not think our country should have borders. On the other hand, Kemp is willing to help with the federal efforts to control illegal immigration.
As you might guess, Kemp is pro-life and Abrams is pro-abortion.
The congressional race between Republican Karen Handel and Democrat Jon Ossoff was the most expensive congressional race in history. The voters rejected the out-of-state funding for Ossoff, and I believe the moderate Democrats are not going to support far-left funding from California and New England influencing our state election for governor this year.
Hopefully, we will be covering the November election live on Facebook and you can join in the election debate on the state and local races. We had some very insightful comments from viewers in July. Like The Citizen Facebook page (www.facebook.com/mycitizen/) so that you can easily send your comments as the election results unfold on Election Day.
Steve Brown, Commissioner
Fayette County Board of Commissioners
Peachtree City, Ga.
