Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is scheduled to deliver his 2022 State of the State address Thursday.
Kemp is up for reelection this year.
The two Republicans who want Kemp’s job said the incumbent governor will deliver a speech that tries to make up for Kemp’s weaknesses as a candidate. The incumbent governor has fallen short on leadership skills and fallen short pushing hard enough for election integrity, said declared gubernatorial candidates Vernon Jones and David Perdue.
Members of Kemp’s staff did not return The Georgia Star News’ request for comment Thursday.
Jones said this year’s election prompted Kemp to release a laundry list of items to distribute to Georgians to secure Kemp’s reelection.
“I am sure he will continue to plagiarize my platform of my contract with Georgia with his failing reelection campaign. He has become a copycat. He has been in hiding for three years, and now he wants to pass constitutional carry, use the surplus to cut state income taxes, and give a false attempt of standing up for Stacey Abrams. It’s a day late and a dollar short,” Jones said when reached by phone.
“He is playing Santa Claus after Christmas giving out gifts. Ho, ho, ho.”
Perdue spokeswoman Jenni Sweat, meanwhile, said Perdue “is embarking on an election-year spending spree to try and make up for broken promises over his 20-year political career.”
Former President Donald Trump endorsed Perdue’s candidacy last year.
“Only a career politician like Kemp would wait until an election-year primary fight to finally pretend to be a conservative,” Sweat said Wednesday.
Kemp is scheduled to deliver his speech at 11 a.m. ET, Thursday, before members of the Georgia General Assembly. Georgia Public Broadcasting will carry the speech live.
Kemp released a campaign ad last month where he told voters he has done everything he said he would do during his first term.
State legislators pushed Kemp last year to call a special legislative session before the January U.S. Senate runoff elections. The special session did not happen. Had such a special session occurred then state legislators likely would have addressed the appointed presidential electors and the implementation of laws limiting voter fraud in the general election runoff.
Kemp also would not use his authority to change the date of the state’s two U.S. Senate elections from January 5 to February 1 of last year. Moving back the date might have given members of the Georgia General Assembly additional time to coordinate and develop ways to prevent potential election fraud.
Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff defeated incumbent U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and Perdue, respectively.
Republican officials in two Georgia counties in April formally censured Kemp on the grounds that he betrayed Trump in November 2020.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star and The Georgia Star News. Follow Chris on Facebook, Twitter, Parler, and GETTR. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Brian Kemp” by Brian Kemp.
