Blue wave, red wall: Race roars to close

Expensive, closely watched contest brings out big names at end.

A race that quietly began nearly two years ago will come to a deafening crescendo Tuesday after a final blitz that brought Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, Mike Pence and Donald Trump to Georgia.

Stacey Abrams hopes to ride a “blue wave” to wash away Republican rule in the state and make her the first Democrat elected governor since 1998 — and the first black female governor in U.S history. Brian Kemp is trying to fortify a “red wall” in conservative areas to smash those dreams.

It seems fitting that the race closes with a close-up from a pair of presidents. The Abrams-Kemp battle is a test for whether Democrats can win Republican-held territory by moving distinctly to the left, and the outcome could shape strategies into the next decade.

Abrams staked her campaign on that premise, mixing liberal stances on gun control and criminal justice policy with more mainstream demands for Medicaid expansion and increased K-12 funding. Along the way, she’s tied herself to national Democratic figures in a way her predecessors vigorously avoided.

Unlike past Democrats, the former House minority leader aimed to motivate the vast universe of left-leaning voters who usually skip midterm votes and

leading figure in her party. erendum on him.

With Trump’s approval ratings in Georgia inching Their differences on Geor- upward, it’s a gamble that gia’s biggest debates are vast. Kemp is willing to take. His

Abrams wants to reverse closing argument revolves abortion restrictions, ban not around divisive social assault rifles, block “relipolicy but a more focused gious liberty” legislation case that he’ll extend the and expand Medicaid. Kemp Republican economic legacy. wants to pass the nation’s That resonates with some strictest abortion limits, conservative voters who expand gun rights, sign a say their lives have vastly “religious liberty” measure improved since Trump took and block Medicaid expanoffice. sion. “I want to make sure things

That’s just for starters. The stay on the right track,” said two are also divided on fisFrancis Melancon, who cal policy, Confederate mon- works for a phone comuments, global warming — pany in Dalton. “It’s been on and on. positive for us the last cou

The intense attention to ple of years, since Trump’s the race has fed one polar- election, and we don’t want izing development after that to change.” barded another rival with another. Within the past two That same magnetic effect attacks to secure a show- weeks, Kemp’s critics were has repelled other voters down against the secretary outraged by a recording of toward Abrams’ orbit. Matof state. him at a closed-door fundtie Regina Lee is a retired

Then came the June surraiser warning of Abrams’ grocery store clerk from prise: A leaked tape of Cagle energized turnout efforts, Augusta and former Repubbad-mouthing conservatives and they seized on his piclican voter who supports and admitting to backing ture with an anti-Muslim Abrams in part because of “bad” legislation to under- extremist. her opposition to Trump. cut a rival. Later came a few And Abrams’ opponents “I can’t stand to listen to keystrokes from Trump, who eagerly circulated a long-forhis voice,” Lee said. “I put turbo-charged Kemp’s rungotten picture of her burnthe TV on mute every time away victory with a surprise ing a Georgia state flag with he comes on and turn my endorsement on Twitter. a Confederate emblem and head. He’s so full of hate I

Abrams was never the pounced on her gaffes to bolcan’t take it.” underdog on the Democratic ster their depiction of her Whoever wins will face side, but she, too, faced a as a “radical” who does the a tough task in living up to It’s a race that formally well-funded challenger. Forbidding of Left Coast elites. soaring campaign promises. started hours after the 2017 mer state Rep. Stacey Evans So fraught has the race A victorious Abrams will legislative session ended embodied the conventional become that Kemp’s appear- be greeted by a Republiwhen Kemp traveled to a Democratic approach, echo- ance at an Atlanta brewery can-dominated Legislature crowded Cobb County GOP ing her party’s past contend- sparked threats of boycotts whose leaders spent months breakfast to announce his ers by focusing her campaign and an emotional apology bashing her agenda and vowcandidacy with Trump-like on an expansion of the HOPE from its owners, so bitter ing to block her proposundertones. scholarship and appeals to that Abrams has been lik- als. Even House Speaker

But it really began in 2009, suburban white women. ened to Josef Stalin in mailDavid Ralston, not known when Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle But the race quickly ers bombarding Republican for biting attacks on Abrams, pulled out of that race for became an ideological chess households. re c ently chi d ed her for an open gubernatorial seat match as both fought over With both candidates sufspending “too much time and carefully began plot- who was the prouder stanfering from the swirl of negin Neverland.” ting another run. He fordard-bearer of the left, dig- ative attacks, one app develKemp, too, could face mally entered this contest ging deep into each other’s oper waded into the mix withering scrutiny from his a few weeks after Kemp, voting records and public with a game that lets playRepublican allies over his quickly establishing him- statements for even a hint ers guide a pigeon to defeplan to cap state spending self as a front-runner with of a betrayal of the liberal cate on Abrams or Kemp. and devote more than $600 loads of campaign cash and cause. “Who will win the poopu- million a year for teacher endorsements. Abrams overcame ques- lar vote?” it asks. pay raises. Some legislative

Cagle only seemed to tions over her debt, her stratLooming above all is leaders have already signaled cement that status by orches- egy and her fundraising abilTrump, who will headline their skepticism. trating the defeat of a tax ity to score a dominating vic- Kemp’s rally at 4 p.m. SunThose, however, are probbreak that triggered the tory that solidified her status day in Macon. Though both lems for another day. delight of the gun lobby. So as a national Democratic star. candidates speak more of For now, Abrams is confident was Cagle that he And just as Trump backed Deal’s legacy than Trump, focused on building that could beat Kemp in a run- Kemp, Abrams locked up the president is dead set on wave. And Kemp on reinoff that his campaign bom- support from virtually every making the midterms a ref- forcing that wall. desperate to keep Georgia’s 16 electoral votes in the GOP column; liberals are eager for proof that one of their rebuild long-forgotten party own can fare better than infrastructure. It’s expensive, centrist Democrats of yore. painstaking work that began That’s attracted an unpreceven before she announced edented tide of campaign her campaign. cash — more than $66 mil

Her liberal ideals are in lion and counting — with direct conflict with her long- much of it coming from outtime nemesis and his deeply of-state donors, well-conconservative values. Kemp nected business lobbies or tacked to his party’s flank Washington-based special-inwith hard-line stances on terest groups. illegal immigration, vows And it’s also generated to crack down on violent an unprecedented surge of offenders and a “Georgia voter participation for this First” philosophy that would type of contest, as both canmake Trump proud. didates try to inspire voter

That’s not all Kemp, a twoturnout befitting a presiden- term secretary of state, bor- tial election rather than a rowed from the president. milder midterm. He’s trying to follow the same About 2.1 million early balpath Trump blazed to carry lots have already been cast, fulfill his duties, even if that the state in 2016 by focusing and nearly two dozen coun- means directing a recount on rural strongholds and ties have already exceeded in the case of a razor-thin outer exurbs where Republi- their entire 2014 vote total. margin. cans reign — rather than the At least one-third of them And yet, after all this time close-in suburbs that flipped have come from voters who and treasure, Tuesday might blue two years ago. didn’t vote four years ago, in not mark the finale. The same

And he, too, is pursuing both Republican strongholds poll showed neither candia cache of “unlikely” voters and Democratic bastions. date above the majority-vote that Abrams also covets. But The broad majority of threshold needed to avoid his targets are Trump voters voters from both sides of a Dec. 4 runoff. Libertarwho also skipped the last the aisle told Atlanta Jour- ian Ted Metz is openly play- gubernatorial election — but nal-Constitution pollsters ing the spoiler, encouraging showed up in droves in 2016 that the midterm is more Georgians to cast a “protest to support the president. important than past votes, vote” for his long-shot bid.

Though Kemp’s distanced spurred by a swirl of factors himself from the shotgun-tot- that include Trump’s perfor- ing image he proudly boasted mance, a sharp ideological in the primary — even aban- divide and the waves of bru- doning his “politically incor- tal attacks lobbed by each rect conservative” mantra campaign. — he’s stuck steadfastly by Their biggest clash has Trump. The benefits of revlong revolved around voting ving up conservatives, he figrights, and the two sparred ures, far outweigh the costs in court and in the public of alienating independents. arena over ballot access long before this campaign. Abrams accuses Kemp of leveraging Georgia law to suppress and intimidate minorities; Kemp says he’s following laws designed to prevent illegal votes and that he has made it easier for Georgians to sign up to vote by starting online voter registration and setting up a smartphone app.

At the heart of that fight are repeated calls from Abrams’ allies for Kemp to step down as the state’s top elections official while he’s running for Georgia’s highest office. He counters that he’ll

Surge of attention

Much is at stake in Tuesday’s election, starting with the vast powers tied to the state’s most prized office. The next governor will control a trove of appointments, hold agenda-setting influence over the budget and state policy, take a firm hand in the redrawing of political maps, and possess an ear-splitting bully pulpit.

The outcome has broader implications, explaining why every potential presidential hopeful has dutifully visited Georgia. Conservatives are

A long time coming Polar opposites

JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM Kim Tweten reads a spy novel (right) to help pass the time for early voting Oct. 18 at the Cobb County West Park Government Center in Marietta. Waits sometimes stretched to three hours. More than 1.8 million early ballots already have been cast.

STEVE SCHAEFER / SPECIAL TO THE AJC Kimberly Gibbs (left) fills out her paperwork before voting at the DeKalb County Library-Dunwoody Branch on Oct. 27. Manager Renata Fleming said 174 people voted there in the first hour.