Gov. Kemp releases first campaign ad of 2022 re-election bid

ATLANTA - Gov. Brian Kemp released the first advertisement in his 2022 re-election campaign Friday morning.

"This week, we should be celebrating baseball, instead Stacey Abrams and the liberal mob forced the All Star Game to move," Kemp said in the 30 second spot.

The campaign commercial took aim at Kemp's 2018 Democratic opponent, Stacey Abrams, and focused on Major League Baseball's decision to relocate the All Star Game from Truist Park in Cobb County after Kemp signed "The Election Integrity Act of 2021" into law earlier this year.

The game was scheduled to take place in Georgia next Tuesday, but was moved to Colorado instead.  

"You know the ad really isn't about the election law, it's about the reaction to the election law, because in Georgia and probably nationally, the middle had rejected the rhetoric that the left has pushed on these laws.  The more they've found out about what the law does, the less credibility the left's criticism and now the Department of Justice's criticism, has," explained Brian Robinson, a Republican strategist and president of Robinson Republic.  "Kemp has an opportunity here, one that he's very rarely had, to reclaim the middle of this electorate, which I would say Republicans have lost in the last election cycle,"

Abrams has not said whether she intends to enter the race for a rematch with Kemp, but Robinson said she will still have an impact in 2022.  

"Stacey Abrams is going to continue to be a focus, because she has universal name ID and she's highly polarizing.  She's also twisted herself into a pretzel on this issue, very clearly tried to seize the moment and bash Georgia, bash the law and did things that gave cover to corporations and to groups that wanted to boycott Georgia and then wanted to act like that's not what she did," said Robinson.  "She will be a specter in this race whether she gets in as a candidate or not."

No matter who enters the race on the Democratic side, Gov. Kemp will first have to make it past the Republican primary.  So far former DeKalb County CEO and state Rep. Vernon Jones has mounted the largest challenge, though he has raised just $650,000 for his campaign compared to Gov. Kemp's nearly $12 million.

Jones has been an outspoken supporter of former President Donald Trump and Robinson said a Trump endorsement of Jones or another yet to be named candidate could have a major effect on the contest.

"No one can rest easy until we have a lot more answers about who is going to be in the race and where President Trump is going to be," Robinson explained.

Gov. Kemp plans to officially launch his re-election campaign at an event in Perry, Ga. Saturday.  

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