UPDATED: 8:19 p.m. EDT — Stacey Abrams squared off against Republican Brian Kemp in a tense debate for governor of Georgia on Tuesday night in Atlanta. While the Democratic nominee was calm, passionate, clear and full of policy, Kemp was defensive, angry and refused to answer questions, especially on well-documented voter suppression. Libertarian nominee Ted Metz was also on the stage, but it was crystal clear that Abrams was the winner.
If you missed the debate and want to watch it in full, scroll down to the bottom of this article and click on the link for Georgia Public Broadcasting’s website, which has already archived the event.
Original story below:
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Stacey Abrams was scheduled to square off against her Republican opponent running for governor of Georgia in their first debate Tuesday night. The face-to-face meeting was expected to be contentious in part because of all the voter suppression allegations facing Brian Kemp, who is polling neck-and-neck with Abrams.
One of those apparent instances of what appeared to be an attempt to at least intimidating voters by using the politics of fear came just Monday night when a decades-old image of Abrams surfaced on social media showing her burning a Georgia flag emblazoned at the time with the racist Confederate symbol. Kemp, the current Georgia secretary of state overseeing the board of elections, also took measures this month to place tens of thousands of voter registration applications on hold — about 70 percent of them from African-Americans.
Aside from the obvious efforts to suppress the Black vote in Georgia, other topics likely to be discussed could be healthcare, taxes and the overall economic health for the state. People watching the state of politics closely were curious to see if the so-called “Black wave” of successful African-American politicians, especially women, would continue with Abrams’ candidacy.
Abrams was coming off a fresh boost from Hollywood’s Black elite, which helped add $300,000 to her war chest through a fundraising effort Sunday night in Atlanta. Some of the A-listers who showed out to support Abrams included Will Packer, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Chris Tucker, Tiffany Haddish, Kelly Rowland, Marlon Wayans, LaToya Luckett, Marsai Martin and Tyrese Gibson, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Those funds were in addition to the nearly $1 million MoveOn.org helped raise for her, the progressive social justice and political organization announced last week.
RealClearPolitics took an average of existing surveys to determine that Abrams and Kemp were polling evenly at 48 percent each, according to a new poll released Tuesday.
The Georgia governor’s election has captured a national audience, but Tuesday night’s debate was only expected to be televised statewide and not across the country.
The debate was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. EDT. To watch the debate online via a live stream, click here to go to Georgia Public Broadcasting’s website.
Or watch the video embed below.
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