CUMMING, Ga. (AP) 鈥� Former Vice President Mike Pence took the stage Tuesday in Georgia to reinforce the main thrusts of Gov. Brian Kemp's case for reelection against Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams, arguing that Kemp has been good for Georgia's economy and Abrams is soft on crime.
鈥淣o one in Georgia鈥檚 history has done more to create jobs, cut taxes, restore sanity to your schools, put criminals behind bars, protect the unborn and secure all the God-given liberties enshrined in the Constitution of the United States than Gov. Brian Kemp," Pence told about 150 people in Cumming, part of a belt of Republican-dominated Atlanta exurbs key to Kemp's reelection.
Abrams, who lost narrowly to Kemp four years ago, used Pence's Georgia swing to amplify her long-running critique of Kemp鈥檚 . She stood outside a major Atlanta hospital that closed its doors permanently at midnight Monday and noted that Pence, as governor of Indiana, embraced Medicaid expansion even though it was part of Democrats鈥� 2010 health insurance overhaul.
Pence鈥檚 visit, along with subsequent appearances this week by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, will spotlight Kemp's campaign and ahead of what the GOP hopes is a surge of Election Day ballots.
But the former vice president鈥檚 appearance also spotlights Georgia Republicans鈥� tightrope in assembling a winning coalition of voters still loyal to former President Donald Trump and Republican traditionalists while luring moderates back to the GOP.
Both Kemp and Pence ran afoul of Trump after the 2020 presidential election when they refused to help the defeated president block certification of Democrat Joe Biden鈥檚 win. Trump鈥檚 midterm campaign circuit has excluded Georgia, where his presence in 2020 and ahead of two January 2021 Senate runoffs was ultimately viewed as harmful to Republicans.
Kemp gave a four-minute speech slimmed down to his essential message 鈥� that Georgia's economy thrived after he decided to lift pandemic restrictions, while Abrams is disqualified .
鈥淲e鈥檝e been doing good in this day because we have been saying no to Stacey Abrams,鈥� Kemp said, speaking in the parking lot of a cigar bar in heavily Republican Forsyth County.
鈥淲e were listening to you, and because we鈥檝e done that, we鈥檝e got an incredible economy," Kemp said. "We've got the most people ever working in the history of the state, the lowest unemployment rate in the history of the state.鈥�
Pence jabbed that 鈥淪tacey Abrams may be the weakest candidate on crime in the history of Georgia," after Abrams dismissed Kemp's endorsement by more than 100 sheriffs. She said she was not a part of a 鈥済ood ol' boys club鈥� and said 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have 107 sheriffs who want to be able to take Black people off the street, who want to be able to go without accountability," before backtracking and saying 鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe every sheriff wants that.鈥�
Pence, in a common Republican move this year, linked Abrams with an unpopular Biden.
鈥淚f she found her way back in the statehouse as governor, she鈥檒l fall right in line with the failed Biden-Harris agenda," Pence said.
In Atlanta, Abrams stood in front the Atlanta Medical Center just east of downtown as a crane lowered a sign from the , leaving metro Atlanta with just one top level trauma center.
鈥淲e have lost more hospitals under this one governor than most states have lost in the last decades,鈥� Abrams said, blaming Kemp for leaving billions in federal money untapped because he鈥檚 declined to expand Medicaid.
鈥淏rian Kemp is aggressively undermining, dismantling and harming the provision of health care in the state of Georgia,鈥� Abrams said.
Georgia remains one of 12 states, nearly all Republican-dominated, that haven't expanded Medicaid. Abrams emphasized that Pence and Christie both expanded Medicaid as governors and that Ducey campaigned on a promise to repeal Arizona鈥檚 expansion only to relent once he took office and 鈥渟aw that it was working.鈥�
Kemp, she said, 鈥渋s so unconcerned with the health and welfare of the people of Georgia that he would rather stand by a confounding ideology that is not shared by fellow Republicans.鈥�
Abrams made Medicaid expansion a centerpiece of her 2018 bid against Kemp and has renewed her push, launching her 2022 campaign in a southwest Georgia town where a hospital closed in 2021. Medicaid is a joint state-federal program used to provide insurance to low-income Americans and subsidies to hospitals that treat them.
鈥淲e are losing money because he鈥檚 literally sending it to New Jersey, to New York, to California, the states that he seems to revile,鈥� Abrams said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 as though a Brink's truck backed up to the state of Georgia with $12 billion in it, and Brian Kemp said give it to other people.鈥�
Tuesday's show of GOP strength noticeably did not include Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker, who has been dogged by multiple allegations that he paid for and pressured , in opposition to the anti-abortion views he鈥檚 expressed as a candidate. Kemp has for weeks sidestepped questions about Walker, saying only that he鈥檚 trying to lead 鈥渢he whole ticket鈥� to victory. Walker campaigned on his own Tuesday.
A Walker aide said Tuesday that he was not aware whether there had been contact between the campaign and Pence's team, but he added that Walker鈥檚 closing bus tour had been planned for weeks. When Pence came to Georgia in late 2020, he campaign jointly with then-Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, who both lost runoffs.
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Barrow reported from Atlanta
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Learn more about the issues and factors at play in the midterms at . And follow the AP鈥檚 election coverage of the 2022 elections at .
Jeff Amy And Bill Barrow, The Associated Press
