“Let me begin by offering my congratulations to Governor Brian Kemp” is how Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams kicked off her concession speech the late night of November 11th surrounded by officers, friends and supporters. “Even though my (our) fight for Governor may have come up short, I’m pretty tall. Tonight, I am doing what is clearly the responsible thing. I am suspending my campaign for Governor.”
With 100% of Georgia precincts reporting, Abrams received 45.85% or 1,809,765 popular votes while Kemp, the incumbent, picked up 53.44% or 2,109,210 popular votes.
“Each day of this race, we (Kemp’s family) talked about how we think we live in the best state in the country. To live, worship and raise our families,” Kemp said and then startled some reporters covering the speech when he said this. “We all know that our opponent disagreed. But looking at the results tonight, we made sure that Stacey Abrams is not going to be your Governor or your president.”
Aside from her opening, Abrams avoided any direct criticism toward Kemp by name but assured her rousing crowd of supporters Tuesday night November 8 that her fight to “live in a Georgia that works for everyone” will continue. “We rejected the doubts of the insiders, the cynics, naysayers and chose to run this race for the people. And we didn’t just make our case to Democrats. Because of your support, I’ve talked to Georgians of all ages, backgrounds from red to blue to purple and they are all ready for change. While they may not have chosen change tonight, they are about it.
Thoughts were also on the mind of U.S. Senate candidate Reverend Rapheal Warnock’s. In his address to his supporters around 1:50 am on November 9th. After a long night watching count and with all the precincts reporting, the incumbent preacher and pastor of Atlanta’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church will have to await the outcome of his runoff race with opponent Herschel Walker on December 6th. “Here’s where we are. We aren’t sure if this journey is over or if there is work yet to do. But here is something we do know. We know that when they are finished counting the votes from today (November 8) election, were going to have received more votes than my opponent. We know that.
Warnock was right… according to the Secretary of State’s office, with 100% of the precincts reported, Warnock was the leading vote-getter with 1,941,712 votes or 49.42% to Walker’s 1,906,368 or 48.52%. “The people of Georgia showed up and said loud and clear that you want a Senator who’s going to do the work for Georgia. You want someone who every day is going to wake up and work for ALL of Georgia and that is the work I have committed myself to doing from day one. I am as committed to this work as I have ever been and I look forward to continuing on that journey together… over the next six years.”
In other races and especially those of significance to Atlanta and surrounds, incumbent Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, supported by former president Donald Trump, retained his seat in a race against Democrat Charlie Bailey; current Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger retained his seat by defeating Bee Nguyen; Sanford Bishop of Columbus, Georgia, will return to his seat in DC as will District 4 Congressmember Hank Johnson; Nikema Williams returns to the 5th district Congress seat once held by the late John Lewis, incumbent District 7 congresswoman Lucy McBath won out over Republican opposition, Atlanta native Valencia Seay will successfully return to her seat in district 35 of the state Senate and longtime Atlanta congressmember David Scott returns to his seat in DC which he’s held for nearly 30 years.
Interested in reviewing all the 2022 political race outcomes? Visit this website: https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/GA/115465/web.307039/#/summary
Last updated on November 11, 2022