New Stacey Abrams campaign ad takes Brian Kemp to task on guns, abortion

ATLANTA — Democrat Stacey Abrams released her first ad of the general election campaign for governor Wednesday, June 1, hitting Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on guns, abortion and tax cuts.

In the 30- second ad, Abrams targets legislation the GOP-controlled General Assembly passed this year allowing Georgians to carry firearms without a permit.

“(Kemp) made it easier for criminals to carry guns in public,” the ad’s narrator says.

The ad goes on to criticize the “heartbeat” bill lawmakers passed in 2019, the governor’s first year in office, which prohibits abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, typically about six weeks into pregnancy.

Guns and abortion rose to the top of the Democrats’ list of issues to aim at Republicans in recent weeks.

Early last month, the leaking of a first draft of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling appeared to put the court on a path toward overturning the 1973 Roe. v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion. Later in May, two mass shootings in New York and Texas focused attention on gun laws.

During Kemp’s successful Republican primary campaign against former U.S. Sen. David Perdue, the governor said the heartbeat bill was the strictest antiabortion measure in the nation.

He argued the purpose of the permit-less carry bill was to make it easier for lawabiding Georgians to protect themselves from criminals who don’t bother to seek permits for their illegal weapons.

Abrams’ ad also accuses Kemp of backing tax cuts with benefits that skew toward upper-income taxpayers.

“While Georgians struggle, Kemp gave massive ‘oldschool’ tax cuts to himself and his wealthy friends,” the ad asserts.

When he signed the tax cut bill in late April, Kemp said it will save a family of four with an annual household income of $60,000 more than $600 a year.