Georgia’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams launched new attack ads on Monday against Republican Gov. Brian Kemp that allege he is abusing his power for personal gain.
A pair of 30-second TV ads take shots at the sitting governor’s personal net worth growing by $3.4 million while in office and accuse Kemp of “making Georgia work for him — not you.”
An Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis showed Kemp’s assets dipped during his first year in office but rebounded after he divested from a controversial seed-crushing operation with plants in northeast Georgia and Kentucky.
MIDTERMS 2022: LIVE UPDATES FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL AHEAD OF CRUCIAL ELECTION
Abrams’s ads also mention a $694 million no-bid contract given to Jackson Healthcare to help overwhelmed hospitals in Georgia hire temporary nurses to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Jackson Healthcare agreed to hire more nurses if the state agreed to foot the bill. Because the contract was drawn up during a public health state of emergency, state officials signed off on it without taking any other bids from staffing agencies. According to the report, “The state doesn’t know and Jackson won’t say how much of that money was paid to nurses and how much kept by the agency.”
The ad implies the contract was corrupt because the company’s founder donated to the governor’s first gubernatorial campaign, with the ads dubbing him “Kickback Kemp.”
The ads come as Abrams is trailing Kemp in the polls with just five weeks to go before the midterm elections in one of the most-watched state races in the country.
The Abrams camp has been painting Kemp as a corrupt candidate open to shady deals. It has also tagged the sitting governor as “dangerous” due to his strong anti-abortion and gun rights stances.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
In turn, Kemp claims Abrams is obsessed with celebrity and values the media spotlight over helping Georgians. Kemp has dubbed Abrams “Celebrity Stacey.” Abrams has made appearances on a number of talk shows including The View. She also played the president of United Earth during a cameo on Star Trek Discovery.
