COVINGTON, Ga. — Democrat Stacey Abrams is set to campaign in Covington Thursday, Nov. 3, at 5 p.m. at the CWA Union Hall on City Pond Road.
The union hall is at 9915 City Pond Road.
The stop in Covington is part of her “Let’s Get It Done” statewide bus tour before Election Day Tuesday, Nov. 8, her campaign announced.
The bus tour also is making stops in Macon and Clayton, Gwinnett and Cobb counties this week.
“Throughout the bus tour, Abrams has traveled the state to speak with Georgians of all backgrounds about her vision for One Georgia and the once-in-a-generation opportunity that Georgia has to invest in the fundamentals: education, healthcare, housing, and the ability to earn a good living, whether you work for yourself or someone else,” a release stated.
Abrams is challenging Gov. Brian Kemp for the governor’s office in the General Election Tuesday, Nov. 8. Libertarian Shane Hazel also is on the ballot for governor.
Her theme on the campaign trail has been about the opportunities Kemp is missing to use a surplus generated by massive federal pandemic relief — not Kemp — to improve education, housing and health care for everyday Georgians, Capitol Beat News Service reported.
She has also criticized Kemp and two Republican predecessors in the Governor’s Mansion for not expanding Georgia’s Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act Congress passed in 2010, a step she said would provide health-care access to 500,000 currently uninsured Georgians.
Kemp is scheduled to be in the Newton County area Friday at 3:30 p.m. at the Walton County Historic Courthouse in Monroe with former New Jersey governor Chris Christie as part of Kemp’s statewide bus tour.
If the economy is Kemp’s top issue this year, crime is a close second, Capitol Beat News reported.
Kemp created a Crime Suppression Unit last year to use law enforcement personnel from several state agencies to help local police departments fight a pandemic-driven crime wave. The unit has served warrants on more than 600 criminal suspects, including 29 murder warrants.
Kemp has accused Abrams of being soft on crime by supporting an end to cash bail and has charged Democrats in general with wanting to “defund” the police, a talking point Republicans across the country have used to attack their opponents.
Abrams has countered that Kemp’s backing of legislation the Republican-controlled General Assembly enacted this year to let gun owners carry concealed firearms without a permit is making Georgians less safe.
“Street gangs are not the reason people are getting shot in grocery stores, parking lots, and schools. … We have a governor who has weakened gun laws across our state.”
Kemp, who opposes Medicaid expansion as too expensive, called it a “broken government program.” His administration’s proposals for a more limited version of Medicaid expansion have been rejected by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Kemp said during a debate earlier this month that he would not push for abortion restrictions beyond the heartbeat law, which includes exceptions for rape and incest, if a police report is filed, when the mother’s life is at risk, or if a serious medical condition renders a fetus unviable.
Abrams pointed to polls that show most Georgia voters oppose the heartbeat law.
She also said Kemp’s fulfillment of a pledge to raise teacher salaries by $5,000 a year during his first term isn’t enough. She said she wants to increase annual teacher pay by $11,000, set $50,000 as the starting salary for teachers, expand child-care slots by 30,000 and restore free community college tuition.
Kemp said the state is already funding K-12 education in Georgia at a record level coming off a recession and a global pandemic. Going forward, he is putting an emphasis on helping students recover from the learning loss they suffered when schools closed during the pandemic and students were forced to rely on online instruction.
