Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp delivers victory speech after securing reelection bid 5/24/22 Transcript

Brian Kemp: (00:04)
What a great night to be a Georgian, everybody. I think we need to start tonight by giving a big round of applause to the best first lady in the country, Marty Kemp. Marty and I are so blessed to be here with you all tonight, and especially to have our three daughters with us here, Jarrett, Lucy, and Amy Porter. We are so proud of them, y’all. Thank y’all for your hard work and what you have been doing.

Brian Kemp: (00:40)
As you all know, we started this journey as a family, and I couldn’t be more thankful to have these four Kemp strong ladies by my side through it all. I also want to thank my mom, Ann Cabanis, for being here for my sister, Julie Rief and her family for being here. They have been great warriors for us as well, thank you guys. Looking at the results tonight, it looks like team Kemp has chopped a lot of wood over the last few months. And I will tell you, we could not be more thankful for the countless hours that all of you have poured into this primary race, the doors, the dials, the small dollar donations, the yard signs, and going to events. You name it and team Kemp has done it. So thank you all so much.

Brian Kemp: (01:40)
And as we have always said, team Kemp has always been built from the grassroots up, and this race has been no different. You have honored us with your time, with your efforts and with your resources, but most importantly, with your belief in our campaign, and we cannot thank you guys enough. God bless you all, thank you.

Brian Kemp: (02:10)
Back when I first ran for the state Senate as a local construction guy in Athens who was fed up with government bureaucracy, there were a lot of people that said I wouldn’t beat the incumbent state Senator, but I knew better. I knew that hard working Georgians felt the same way that I did, that government was too big and politicians were not listening, and that’s why I ran. And I promised voters I would get government out of the way and ensure that George’s best and brightest days were still ahead, that I would put them first ahead of the status quo and the politically correct. And that when I got into office, I would do exactly as I promised on the campaign trail. And because of a lot of people in this room, we won that race and we delivered on those promises.

Brian Kemp: (03:04)
In 2017, the same pundit said we couldn’t win the governor’s race, but once again, Marty and the girls and I, we knew different. You see, I had been to all 159 counties in this state, driving around in that green machine that Amy Porter mentioned. I know you all have seen it. And I slept on more than a few sofas, and we ate it just about every diner meat and three that we came across. And I wasn’t worried about what the political class had to say, because I was listening to the waitress at the barbecue joint in Rentz. I was listening to that dirt farmer in Dawson, the community banker in Blairsville, and the people of Quitman county who just wanted a grocery store in their community so they wouldn’t have to drive across the state line to get food for their families.

Brian Kemp: (04:04)
These hard work in Georgians knew the worth of a good paying job, of safe communities and strong families. And they were telling me they didn’t want more of the same, they wanted someone who would fight for them and for their values, someone who would put them first. Voters wanted someone that would look them in the eye and tell them the truth, and then do what they said they would do. So in April of 2017, I did what a lot of people said I shouldn’t have done. We did what we felt we were called to do, and you know what we were right

Brian Kemp: (04:52)
Since, our family has been honored to serve you, we have accomplished so much. And there’s so many in this room that I’ve been serving with that’s helped us do that, and I want to thank you all for your support and your leadership. We have a great team in our state. No one could have predicted the unprecedented challenges that we would all face together, but we hunkered down and we emerged stronger than ever. And we stood up for life at the heartbeat. We cracked down on gangs and human trafficking. We expanded access to rural broadband. We lowered the cost of health insurance. And we back, and will continue to back, our men and women in law enforcement.

Brian Kemp: (05:51)
In Georgia, we protected both lives and livelihoods during the global pandemic. We passed historic tax cuts, raised teacher pay and brought the two largest economic development projects in state history to Georgia. We created record jobs, kept woke politics out of the classroom and off our ball fields. We brought violent criminals to justice, put more money in our schools and secured our elections. Even in the middle of a tough primary, conservatives across our state didn’t listen to the noise. They didn’t get distracted. They knew our record of fighting and winning for hard work in Georgians. And tonight because of your support, Georgia Republicans went to the ballot box and overwhelmingly endorsed four more years of our vision for this great state.

Speaker X: (06:52)
Four more years. Four more years.

Brian Kemp: (06:53)
That’s right.

Speaker X: (07:06)
Four more years. Four more years. Four more years. Four more years-

Brian Kemp: (07:07)
Thank you.

Speaker X: (07:07)
Four more years. Four more years. Four more years. Four more years.

Brian Kemp: (07:16)
I want to take just a minute and I want to thank my opponents for the spirited debate that we had throughout this campaign. And I want to also thank David Perdue for the nice phone call that he gave me just a little while ago, pledging his full support to make sure that Stacey Abrams is never our governor. But I want to be crystal clear with all of you here tonight, our battle is far from over. Tonight, tonight, the fight for the soul of our state begins to make sure that Stacey Abrams is not going to be our governor or the next president.

Brian Kemp: (08:01)
And the reason that’s so important is because Abrams would take Georgia in a completely different direction. We don’t have to wonder what she would do if she was governor, she’s already told us in her own words. When Georgia was the first state to reopen, Stacey Abrams campaigned for longer lockdowns. When Georgia got people back to work, Stacey Abrams wanted hard work in Georgian’s to stay in their basement. When Georgia got kids safely back in the classroom, Stacey Abrams wanted them to stay home in front of a screen. And when we gave people an option to wear a mask or get vaccinated, Stacey Abrams championed more government mandates on you and your family.

Brian Kemp: (09:03)
If Stacey Abrams was ever governor of this state, Georgia would be just one COVID variant away from lockdowns, government mandates, schools shuttered and businesses closed. But here’s the truth, it’s not just Stacey Abram’s pandemic politics that can change Georgia forever, her extreme agenda for our state would not stop at COVID. In just the past few weeks, we passed the largest state income tax cut in history and Stacey Abrams wants to raise your taxes. We’re sending over a billion dollars back to you, back to you, Georgia tax payers, to help you deal with Biden’s 40 year high inflation. Stacey Abrams disagrees with this, she thinks state government should keep more of your hard earned tax dollars. We passed common sense legislation that gives parents a voice and keeps partisan agendas out of our schools and off our ball fields, but Stacey Abrams wants her woke politics to be the law of the land and the lesson plan in our classrooms. Well, you know what? Not on my watch.

Brian Kemp: (10:35)
Because I know, and the people that I’ve been serving in that beautiful gold dome up the street know, our kids matter, our parents matter, and we will not back down. Over the last three years, we passed legislation that toughens penalties on criminals and prevents local governments from defunding the police. Stacey Abrams has supported the defund the police movement. Stacey Abrams may have made excuses about a scheduling conflict when Joe Biden came to town. But the truth is this, she has embraced the disastrous Biden agenda at every single turn. Folks, you can see, the choice on the ballot this November is crystal clear. Stacey Abram’s far Left campaign for governor in 2022 is only a warmup for her presidential run in 2024.

Brian Kemp: (11:36)
In fact, just a few days ago, Abrams was pretty honest about what she thinks about our great state. In front of a front of a bunch of Democratic activists, she said she was tired of hearing how Georgia is a top state for business, because she thinks we’re the worst state to live in. I don’t know about you, I don’t know about you, I don’t know about you, but I love being in the best state for business and I love… But I also love living in Georgia, don’t you?

Speaker X: (12:21)
[inaudible 00:12:21]. Yeah.

Brian Kemp: (12:21)
That’s why we’re in a fight for the soul of our state. But here’s the truth, Georgia will never be on Stacey’s mind, because her priorities are not our priorities. Her radical ideas are meant to please people in New York, California and Chicago, who are funding her campaign so she can head straight out to Iowa or New Hampshire next year, leaving you hardworking Georgians behind to pick up the pieces. But unfortunately for Stacy Abrams, the people of our state aren’t going to be used as a stepping stone to the White House. Because it’s my belief, it’s my belief that together, together, we’re going to make sure Stacey’s road to Pennsylvania Avenue stops right here in the Peach State. Because when Stacey’s running for president, our campaign is going to be about building a safer, stronger state right here in Georgia, where our citizens have great opportunities to get a job, build the business, start a family, and achieve the American dream no matter your zip code.

Brian Kemp: (14:00)
Four more years of a Kemp administration will mean that you keep more of your hard earned money. Your communities will be safe. Your kids will be in school without fear of partisan agendas in the classroom. Parents will have a voice. And we’ll keep working to bring good paying jobs to every corner of our state. Marty and the girls and I will be focused on putting you first, not the elites on the presidential campaign circuit. Like I have through these last four years, I will keep listening to the people who have given me the honor of being their 83rd governor, because at the end of the day I’m still a construction guy from Athens, a working Georgian, just like you are.

Brian Kemp: (15:03)
But I want to warn everyone here tonight, make no mistake, this road will not be easy. The other side, as we know, is going to have the media, they’re going to have the money. They’re going to have every Left-wing politician in the country coming down here to tell you who your next governor should be. The pundits have already started doubting us. They say, “Stacey’s too tough to beat,” for the second time I might add.

Brian Kemp: (15:37)
But you all know one thing, you know that they have underestimated team Kemp before, and that’s why we got to have everyone here tonight and our friends and followers all over the state to be in the fight with us over the next five and a half months. We’ve got to knock doors like we never knocked them before. We got to make more phone calls. We got to talk to more of our friends and our neighbors. We got to get everybody in this fight to keep Georgia the best state in the country to live, work and raise our families. So I will tell you what I say, let’s prove them wrong again and go two for O on November the eighth. Thank you all, and God bless you. Let’s keep chopping everybody. Thank you very much.