COVINGTON, Ga. — Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams brought her campaign for governor to a Covington union hall Thursday as her campaign made strong appeals for supporters to turn out to vote on the final day of advance voting and on Election Day.
A sometimes raucous crowd listened as Abrams touched on familiar issues on which she has criticized Gov. Brian Kemp, including lack of Medicaid funding forcing hospitals to close in low-income areas and his support for the state’s abortion law and easing of gun laws.
The rare visit by a party’s nominee for a high-level statewide office brought out many of Newton County’s top elected Democratic officials, as well as numerous supporters to the Communications Workers of America building in Covington. Emory University students who had worked phone banks for Abrams also were part of the crowd.
After Abrams arrived, students from each of the county’s three high schools and the College and Career Academy spoke to the crowd about their support for Abrams — despite two being below the voting age of 18.
“She sees us as a person ... and not a gateway to her own success,” said Newton High School student Sarai Baker.
In an apparent appeal for working-class voters to cast ballots in the final days of the campaign, Abrams told about being the Avondale High School valedictorian in 1991.
She said her family and her were not immediately admitted to the Governor’s Mansion for an event honoring top students.
A guard at the gate for the event did not believe a family who had arrived on a MARTA bus could be among the guests and never asked for an invitation — despite her mother having it in her purse, Abrams said.
“But on Nov. 8, they’re going to hold those gates wide open,” she said to cheers.
Starting in 2014, states were given the option to increase the income threshold for Medicaid coverage to include more adults who make below or near the poverty line.
Abrams said Kemp has refused to allow the expansion of Medicaid in Georgia — leaving it among only 12 states that have not done so.
Meanwhile, six hospitals — mostly serving low-income populations — have closed in Georgia in Kemp’s time in office, she said.
She also said Kemp’s backing of legislation that makes it legal for Georgia gun owners to carry a concealed handgun in public without a license from the state will make the state less safe because it no longer requires a background check.
Kemp’s support for the “heartbeat bill” he signed in 2019 to ban nearly all abortions at six weeks of pregnancy — before many women know they’re pregnant — was an attack on a woman’s freedom to choose, Abrams said. The law became enforceable this year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a case that effectively overturned a nationwide right to an abortion.
She also touched on claims the state’s $6 billion surplus was mainly helping upper-income Georgians; minority businesses not receiving state contracts; and Georgia being one of only two states that do not fund broad, need-based financial aid for college students.
After Abrams departed for the next stop on her "Let's Get It Done" bus tour, Tiffanie Benton and Darlene Joseph, both of Covington, stood near the candidate's purple campaign bus talking to reporters.
They said they were attending the rally because they opposed the Georgia General Assembly’s majority Republicans’ efforts in recent years to place additional restrictions on voting, such as allowing fewer days for absentee voting.
“People who are in power don’t want to give up power,” Benton said.
Jackie Brew of Stone Mountain, a former Covington resident, said she returned to Newton County for the rally because of Abrams’ support for Medicaid expansion.
She said her grandson’s family recently had to drive long distances to Alpharetta for hospital care for the 8-year-old because a closer hospital shut its doors.
“We believe in her,” Brew said.
