Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Saturday told Major League Baseball officials and executives at Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines that he will not buckle under their pressure.
Kemp, flanked by several supporters at the Georgia State Capitol, said he will not do away with the state’s new voter integrity law, Senate Bill 202. The governor also told state residents that Democrat and former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is lying about the new law and fundraising off of her lies.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-GA03) also spoke — and they spoke bluntly to anyone who wants to pass off SB 202 as racist.
Kemp said MLB officials put Abrams’ wishes ahead of hard-working Georgians — during a pandemic — when, as reported, they announced they will move this year’s All-Star Game and MLB Draft out of Atlanta.
“Georgians and all Americans should know what this decision means. It means cancel culture and partisan activists are coming for your business,” Kemp said.
“They are coming for your game or event in your hometown, and they are coming to cancel everything from sports to how you make a living. They will stop at nothing to silence all of us.”
And if MLB officials truly cared about access to the ballot box then, Kemp went on to say, they would have announced they were moving their headquarters out of New York — where he said voters have fewer days to early vote.
“It’s even more ridiculous that MLB didn’t cite a single reason that they disagreed with the bill in their statement,” Kemp said.
“Everyone standing here today and those at home know why. Because the facts and the truth don’t support their narrative.”
Carr, meanwhile, said that comparing SB 202 to the Jim Crow-era “is preposterous, irresponsible, and fundamentally wrong.”
“It’s not healing our nation but further dividing us and causing real harm to real people to real Georgians,” Carr said, adding that too many establishment media outlets are too quick to take everything Abrams says about the law as fact.
“When we defend this bill in court, ‘The Stacey Says Standard’ will not apply. It will all be about the facts and the law.”
Ferguson said MLB executives and corporate CEOS in Georgia should feel shame and must apologize.
“It is unacceptable for corporate CEOs and other outside groups and organizations to call the men and women of the Georgia legislature racist. That is wrong and it must end. They should apologize now. On top of that, and, most importantly, they should apologize to our fellow Georgians for robbing them of the paychecks and the livelihood that would have come [otherwise] because of their actions,” Ferguson said.
“It is unconscionable for a corporate CEO to put himself or herself ahead of the men and women who are working to make their company successful. It is unconscionable for them to make statements that will cause harm to Georgia families, which is exactly what they have done. We wait on their apology with bated breath.”
Kemp said that SB 202 expands access to voting, protects no-excuse absentee voting, levels the playing field on voter ID requirements, and streamlines election procedures.
“And, yes, water can be provided to voters in line by election workers,” Kemp said.
“And, yes, we are not going to allow political organizations or anyone else to harass or electioneer voters who are waiting in line to vote within the 150 foot buffer.”
The governor, pointing to his supporters, also warned the following:
“I will not be backing down from this fight, and neither will people here with me today. We will not be intimidated. We will also not be silenced,” Kemp said.
“Major League Baseball, Coca-Cola, and Delta may be scared of Stacey Abrams, Joe Biden, and the left but I am not, and we are not.”
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Brian Kemp” by Brian Kemp. Background Photo “Georgia Capitol” by DXR. CC BY-SA 4.0.
It is already signed into law…
Water under the bridge…
Cobb County just got screwed by MLB… So be it.
Yeah right….Kuck Kemp still won’t answer why Delta Airlines was even in the room crafting the bill. Nothing has changed.