Gov. Brian Kemp says Perdue rallied behind his ultimate goal: to beat Stacey Abrams in November

ATLANTA — Voters handed Gov. Brian Kemp a big victory in the Republican primary Tuesday night.

In an exclusive interview, Channel 2’s Justin Farmer sat down one-on-one with Kemp on Wednesday and asked the governor what he sees in the future for the state and his race against Democrat Stacey Abrams.

“Our plan was to peak on Election Day, and we did, and now we’re in November,” Kemp said.

Kemp soundly defeated his challenger, David Perdue, and said he and Perdue are now focused on winning in November.

“We can’t worry about that now. We need to be united. The mission in question is to beat Stacey Abrams. And you know, David Perdue called me last night and he was 100% committed to helping do that. He realizes that this is what we have to do. She doesn’t need to be our governor,” Kemp said.

Farmer asked Kemp if there was an issue that resonated most with Georgians as he tours the state.

“What people thanked me most for was opening up the state, helping save their job or saving their business, getting their children back to school. I told them, I said, I didn’t do that, I just gave them a chance to do it. That’s why I’m so proud of this state. And I don’t care which side of the political aisle you’re on, our citizens are so resilient. They have fought through two years of hell during this pandemic,” Kemp said.

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Farmer asked Kemp about the killing of elementary school children in Texas on Tuesday and the possibility of red flag laws in Georgia, the kind of laws that would identify people deemed a threat to themselves or others. Florida, for its part, has such a law.

“Is there anywhere to see that kind of legislation in Georgia?” Farmer asked Kemp.

“Well, listen, that’s what the session is for. To bring any kind of issue, whether it’s related to that or not, where they can go through due diligence. But I think looking at what we’ve done in our state, the legislation that we passed last year, was a big step forward. It’s going to give law enforcement a lot of tools and I think we’ll see how this all plays out and we’ll see what the facts are, but we’ll also make sure we understand what’s going on in Georgia, what our superintendents are saying, what our leaders are saying schoolchildren. they need on the ground and continue to learn and act to put Georgians first and keep our children safe,” Kemp said.

Farmer asked the governor if he would extend the suspension of the state gas tax.

He said he is working with the state to make sure the state can afford to do so. He said that he will make his decision very soon.

The current tax suspension will expire at the end of this month.

We reached out to the Abrams campaign repeatedly this week to offer him the same opportunity for an interview, but they declined.

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