An illustration depicts incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. Kemp’s platform includes protection of Second Amendment rights. “Kemp recognizes the issue with gun safety and the violence that has arisen in Georgia. His standpoint is that carrying a legal weapon is a Constitutional right through the Second Amendment,” Variety Staffer Victoria Garland wrote. “Throughout the past term, he took action by signing legislation allowing eligible citizens to carry guns in public without a special license.” Illustration by Olivia Daniel
Brian Kemp is a conservative Republican and incumbent candidate for governor in the 2022 Georgia gubernatorial election.
Introduction
Georgia incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp is a 1982 Clarke Central High School alumnus and a businessman. He is also a conservative Republican politician, who won the gubernatorial election in 2018. Kemp announced he would run for governor again in the 2022 gubernational election on May 18, 2021.
Gun Control
Kemp recognizes the issue with gun safety and the violence that has arisen in Georgia. His standpoint is that carrying a legal weapon is a Constitutional right through the Second Amendment. Throughout the past term, he took action by signing legislation allowing eligible citizens to carry guns in public without a special license.
Abortion
Kemp believes that human life begins at conception and therefore abortion is a moral issue. In keeping with this view, he signed the historic Heartbeat Bill in 2019 that banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The bill went into effect during the summer of 2022. If re-elected, Kemp will uphold the bill, though he has not addressed what he would further pursue in regards to abortion.
Healthcare
During his first term, Kemp passed legislation to attract more health care providers to Georgia. He’s done so by passing a bill called the Patients First Act, which increased access and lowered cost for health care. He also expanded Medicaid coverage for new mothers from 60 days to one year after having a baby.
Education
Kemp plans to introduce school safety plans to increase security. He’s given $30,000 to each school in Georgia to implement these plans, along with goals for more training, “intruder alert drills” and precautions for potential violence. His agenda for K-12 learning is to get rid of teaching Critical Race Theory to support his claim that it is a dangerous ideology.
Economics
If re-elected, Kemp plans to work towards inflation relief with a goal to return $1 billion of surplus tax revenue to Georgians. Under this proposal, single taxpayers would receive $250, individuals who are the head of their household would receive $375 and married couples would receive $500. He would also continue to try and attract large corporations to Georgia to bring jobs to rural areas. In addition, he wants to maintain Georgia’s status as the No. 1 state for “business climate.”
