Georgia governor's race: Kemp declares victory, Abrams waits for results

Republican Brian Kemp declared himself the victor in Georgia's gubernatorial race on Wednesday, while his opponent, Democrat Stacey Abrams, said it's not over until every ballot is counted.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Kemp has about 64,000 more votes than Abrams, giving him 50.35 percent of the vote; in Georgia, if a candidate is unable to get 50 percent of the vote, a runoff is held. Abrams argues that there are still thousands of provisional ballots that need to be counted, and this could drop him below the threshold. "This election is over," Austin Chambers, an adviser to Kemp, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "The votes have been counted. And the results are clear: Brian Kemp is the governor-elect."

Kemp is Georgia's secretary of state, and refused to step aside during the campaign, despite many saying it was a conflict of interest for him to oversee his own election. The Abrams campaign has called for the state to appoint a "nonpartisan bureaucrat" to oversee the certification of results, rather than Kemp.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up