Brian Kemp tops David Perdue, wins Republican gubernatorial nod
ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp captured renomination for a second term Tuesday, May 24, defeating former U.S. Sen. David Perdue in the Republican primary without the need for a runoff.
At 10:15 p.m., with 57% of the vote counted, Kemp had amassed 72.5% of the statewide vote to just 22.7% for Perdue.
Educator Kandiss Taylor, conservative activist Catherine Davis and retired software engineer Tom Williams trailed far behind in the low single digits.
Perdue took the stage at a Sheraton Hotel in suburban Smyrna at about 8:30 p.m., pledging to support Kemp in the November election despite the bitter campaign he waged against the incumbent.
“I just called the governor and congratulated him,” Perdue told supporters. “I want you to do the same thing.”
Kemp will face Democrat Stacey Abrams, who won her party’s gubernatorial nomination unopposed.
“[Kemp] is a much better choice than Stacey Abrams,” Perdue said.
Kemp addressed his supporters at the College Football Hall of Fame in downtown Atlanta about an hour after Perdue, touting his accomplishments in more than three years in office.
“We cracked down on gangs and human trafficking,” he said. “We expanded access to rural broadband. We lowered the cost of health insurance, and we back and will continue to back our men and women in law enforcement.
“In Georgia, we protected both lives and livelihoods during the global pandemic. We passed historic tax cuts, raised teacher pay and brought the two largest economic development projects in state history to Georgia.”
While Kemp and Perdue disagreed over some issues, Perdue focused his campaign on the governor’s refusal to go along with former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the Georgia results in the 2020
presidential election.
Carrying Trump’s endorsement, Perdue accused Kemp of ignoring evidence
of widespread voter fraud, allegations that have been repeatedly dismissed as false in multiple court rulings.
Kemp said he followed the Constitution and the law, which gave him as governor no role to play in the certification of Georgia’s 16 electoral
votes in favor of Democrat Joe Biden.
Kemp also pointed to the passage of election law changes following the 2020 election imposing a photo ID requirement for absentee voting and restricting the location of absentee ballot drop boxes.