Georgia's six week abortion ban was a contentious point
during last night's debate between Republican gover
brian kemp and his Democratic opponent, Stacey Abr
this race is a rematch from 2018 with both candidates
highlighting their stark differences on several issues,
including the economy and gun rights. Local governments
that are holding up concealed weapon permits that a
keeping law abiding citizens from them. Being able to
simply use their Second Amendment right to protect
themselves and their property and their families. I
will certainly support that. I believe that we can
protect the Second Amendment and protect second graders
at the exact same time. That means that yes, more
people are buying guns. But that's because they think
that's the only way to protect themselves because g
have flooded our streets and our political
correspondent, Willie James Inm joins us in studio
now with details on this heated debate. Good mornin
willie jay. Good morning. It was a heated debate indeed,
with both incumbent Republican governor brian kemp and
Stacey Abrams the Democratic challenger trading b
on stage. And voters tell me that two issues are top of
mind abortion rights and the economy candidates vying
for the governor's mansion in Georgia met face to face
on the debate stage monday night as early voting got
underway on the stage for the event. Republican
incumbent governor brian kemp Democratic challenger,
Stacey Abrams and libertarian Shane hazel. My focus is
gonna be what it was when I opened the debate and that
is helping you fight through 40 year high inflation and
disastrous policies in Washington, D.C.I would remind
you that Stacey Abrams campaign to be joe biden's
running mate. He has denied women access to
reproductive care. The most dangerous thing facing
Georgia is four more years of brian kemp the economy
and abortion, key issues for the campaigns. And in the
minds of voters, a recent poll by the University of
Georgia found about two thirds of Georgia voters
opposed the state's six week abortion law. The same
poll found a majority of voters have concerns about the
cost of living increases. Abrams has made protecting
access to abortion. A pivotal campaign message. I do
believe that us bringing in a law is not going to stop
it. What will happen I foresee is that people will hav
illegal abortions and this will cause cause more people
to be incarcerated because of them trying to receive an
abortion, but with rising prices and record high
inflation, some voters say the economy is top of mind
as they head to the ballot box. Something that coul
favor republicans like incumbent governor, brian kemp.
The economy has just really sunk in two years and not
only that 401 Ks jobs, food gas, The stock market, the
borders. I mean, you name it everything that we were
accomplishing in 2016, has all of a sudden gone
downhill instead of going uphill. Abrams faces immense
headwinds in a political atmosphere defined by
President Biden's low approval ratings in the state.
She currently lags behind Kemp in an average of polls
this race is largely going to come down to turn out. So
voters are aware of how brian kEMp has governed. Um and
they may either approve of that job that he's doing or
they may be comfortable with the status quote, even if
they don't approve of everything and that's gonna pro
to be a challenge for Abrams for Abrams to be
successful. She'll need to win over undecided voters
like john walker. I'm not gonna make up my mind right
now, but I'll give both of them a chance and see what
they're saying. It truly has become a purple state we
saw in the last election. We're gonna see it in this
election early voting just started yesterday, willie,
What's it been like so far Yeah, so it's been a
historic turnout. We're getting some numbers from the
Secretary of State's office over 100 and 25,000 Georgia
voters went out to vote yesterday. That breaks the
record from 2018 where you saw 72,000 voters come out
and vote. So there's a lot of interest here in this
race. And I think it's gonna be really interestin
because you're gonna have voters like john walker there,
that independent voter, the independent thinking voter
who really just hasn't made up his mind yet in the
governor's race. He did tell me that he's going to
support Warnock in the Senate race, but it could be
that split ticket that religious calls it for the
Senate race, perhaps for the Democratic side, if you
believe the poll numbers. But for the gubernatorial
race, it's really interesting because Abrams is behind
right now with public both poles in both races, They're
very close right now. It's really go either way.
Alright, well, thanks.