Kemp calls election lawsuit an assault on democracy

ATLANTA — Gov­er­nor Bri­an Kemp (R – Ga) had harsh words for Attor­ney Gen­er­al Mer­rick Gar­land and Stacey Abrams con­cern­ing the Jus­tice Depart­men­t’s elec­tion law­suit against Geor­gia and the weaponiza­tion of the court system. 

“There’s some­one lying to you about SB 202,” Kemp said, “and it is not me.”

The gov­er­nor detailed the areas addressed in the Elec­tion Integri­ty Act includ­ing expand­ed ear­ly vot­ing, drop­box lim­i­ta­tions, and vot­er ID require­ments. He said the law ensures secure elec­tions and isn’t vot­er suppression. 

Rather Stacey Abrams and the far left are oper­at­ing accord­ing to their play­book, Kemp called the law­suit an attempt to fur­ther “their extreme agen­da.” He remind­ed Geor­gians that the far left’s response to SB202 cost the state $1 mil­lion when the All-Star Game pulled out. Abrams lat­er said she was against the boy­cott; how­ev­er, she ini­tial­ly applaud­ed the move. 

Accord­ing to Kemp, the web address stopjimcrow2 was pur­chased three weeks before the bill was even passed. 

He urged peo­ple to “stand up to the woke mob” because they’re com­ing for Geor­gians and Amer­i­cans “next.” Now he stat­ed that they are “not afraid to use the full force of the fed­er­al government.” 

Kemp pro­claimed that he isn’t afraid of Abrams, Gar­land, or the far-left, cit­ing the two cas­es he won against the Pres­i­dent Oba­ma Jus­tice Depart­ment. He “look[s] for­ward to mak­ing it 3 and 0.” 

Three days pri­or to the fil­ing of the law­suit, the For the Peo­ple Act – a Demo­c­rat-spon­sored bill that would alter the elec­tion process across the coun­try – failed to pass. 

“This law­suit is born out of the lies and mis­in­for­ma­tion the Biden admin­is­tra­tion has pushed against Georgia’s Elec­tion Integri­ty Act from the start. Joe Biden, Stacey Abrams, and their allies tried to force an uncon­sti­tu­tion­al elec­tions pow­er grab through Con­gress — and failed,” Kemp said in an ear­li­er statement.

Georgia Prominent Republicans Speak Out

Oth­er promi­nent Geor­gia law­mak­ers and elect­ed offi­cials have com­ment­ed on the law­suit, includ­ing Speak­er of the House David Ral­ston, which you can read here.

Sec­re­tary of State Brad Raf­fensperg­er issued the following: 

“It is no sur­prise that they would oper­a­tional­ize their lies with the full force of the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment. I look for­ward to meet­ing them, and beat­ing them, in court.”

Guber­na­to­r­i­al Can­di­date Ver­non Jones (R – Ga) called the law­suit “mer­it­less.” In a tweet, he added, “Joe Biden’s DOJ is suing the state of Geor­gia because they think black peo­ple are too damn dumb to secure a Vot­er ID and prop­er­ly vote.” 

Geor­gia Attor­ney Gen­er­al Chris Carr’s state­ment also depict­ed the law­suit as a politi­ciza­tion of the Jus­tice Department: 

“The Jus­tice Depart­ment is wrong: fac­tu­al­ly, legal­ly and con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly. Geor­gia’s law clear­ly strength­ens secu­ri­ty, expands access and improves trans­paren­cy in our elec­tions. Mer­rick Gar­land said he was going to depoliti­cize the Jus­tice Depart­ment yet files this bla­tant­ly polit­i­cal law­suit,” said Carr. 

“It is dis­ap­point­ing for those of us who respect the rule of law, because this is not a law­suit, it is a polit­i­cal cam­paign fli­er. False­ly using race to scare peo­ple of col­or into believ­ing their vote will not be count­ed is irre­spon­si­ble and fun­da­men­tal­ly wrong.” 

The attor­ney gen­er­al also blast­ed pro­gres­sive Demo­c­rat Stacey Abrams, a vocal oppo­nent of the bill, say­ing, “Unfor­tu­nate­ly for the Jus­tice Depart­ment, the Stacey Says Stan­dard does not hold up in a court of law. We have defeat­ed Stacey Abrams in every legal chal­lenge she’s filed since 2018. We remain con­fi­dent that Geor­gia’s law will be upheld. ”

Repub­li­can Nation­al Com­mit­tee Chair­woman Ron­na McDaniel said the following: 

“After fail­ing to sell the par­ti­san fed­er­al elec­tion takeover known as H.R.1 to the Amer­i­can peo­ple, Joe Biden is now weaponiz­ing the Jus­tice Depart­ment to attack elec­tion integri­ty. Democ­rats are seek­ing to under­mine con­fi­dence in elec­tions in the pur­suit of polit­i­cal pow­er. The Repub­li­can Nation­al Com­mit­tee will use every tool and resource at its dis­pos­al to inter­vene and fight these left-wing pow­er grabs.”