Who is running in Georgia's governor race? Brian Kemp and Stacey Abrams rematch is set

The most anticipated race in Georgia's 2022 midterm will be the Brian Kemp vs. Stacey Abrams rematch for governor, as the two return to face off once again after 2018's high turnout showdown.

Much has changed for both candidates in the last four years.

Abrams went from a candidate who lost to a nationally recognized powerbroker. She is widely credited for Georgia's historic blue flip in 2020, which sent the state's 16 electoral college votes and both U.S. Senate seats to Democrats.

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Kemp won the governor's seat in 2018 and has made a strong case for himself in the role, guiding the state through COVID-19 and adding new employers, such as Hyundai Motors, to the state on a regular basis. He won the Republican primary by 50 percentage points despite being on former President Donald Trump's bad side after Kemp refused to call a special session to nominate alternate, Trump-supporting electors after the state's votes favored Biden by about 12,000.

Kemp holds a powerful incumbency. Abrams holds national fame. The stage has been set for what promises to be an explosive Nov. 8.

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Republican Brian Kemp

Kemp is the current governor and former secretary of state. On his campaign website, he focuses on the work he has done as governor on business growth, gun rights, and education, including raising teacher's salaries.

He signed at least two bills that drew national attention, including the "heartbeat" abortion bill, which sought to ban abortions after about six weeks, and SB 202, which changed how elections are administered in Georgia. Before his time as secretary of state, Kemp was a businessman and served in the Georgia General Assembly.

Democrat Stacey Abrams

Abrams is the former minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives. Abrams is running on expanding Medicaid, protecting voting rights and expanding access to education.

She is the founder of Fair Fight Action, which has worked nationally on voting and election issues, access to medical care and medical debt. Abrams served 11 years in the Georgia House of Representatives and was known as a bipartisan legislator.

She also has authored a number of fiction and non-fiction books.

Can Stacey Abrams win Georgia?

The 2020 presidential election put Georgia in the national spotlight.

This fall's midterm will be the first true test of Georgia's swing state status, but it's not quite the same venue as 2020. There's no hyperpolarizing candidate like Donald Trump on the ballot to draw out massive support or opposition.

If anything, Abrams herself will be playing the same role as Trump. Besides his record, Kemp's defeat of Abrams in 2018 was one of his main talking points against Perdue in the primary. Abrams is the Georgia GOP's archnemesis, their worst-case scenario.

Even in Perdue's primary election concession speech, he said he would do whatever he could to help Kemp in his campaign against her.

"Everything I said about Brian Kemp was true," Perdue said. "But here's the other thing I said was true: he is a much better choice than Stacey Abrams."

Will Peebles is the enterprise reporter for Savannah Morning News. He can be reached at wpeebles@gannett.com and @willpeeblessmn on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Abrams, Kemp in rematch for Georgia governor in 2022 general election