Kemp knocks Abrams over ‘worst state’ remarks in new ad

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s (R) reelection campaign knocked Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams over her previous comments in which she called Georgia “the worst state in the country to live” in a new ad out on Tuesday.

“Georgia’s the worst, according to Stacey Abrams,” a narrator can be heard saying in the 30-second ad.

The ad replayed a clip of comments that Abrams made last month while slamming the state’s performance on matters such as incarceration rates and maternal mortality rates, saying in the audio aired in the ad, “I am tired of hearing about being the best state in the country to do business when we are the worst state in the country to live.”

“Bless her heart. Georgia leads the nation because Brian Kemp is governor. He reopened Georgia first, brought thousands of jobs, and Kemp’s cut taxes to help families deal with Biden’s inflation. Brian Kemp’s kept Georgia the best place to live,” the narrator says as the ad finishes.

Tate Mitchell, a spokesman for the Kemp campaign, told The Hill that the ad is airing statewide and that the buy is “in the high six figures.”

“I am tired of hearing about being the best state in the country to do business when we are the worst state in the country to live,” Abrams said, according to footage shared by NBC News correspondent Blayne Alexander. 

The ad, which comes two weeks after Kemp won the Republican primary against Trump-backed former Sen. David Perdue, refers to comments that Abrams made last month while speaking to Gwinnett Democrats, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

“Now, somebody’s going to try to PolitiFact me on this, so let me contextualize. When you’re No. 48 for mental health, when you’re No. 1 for maternal mortality, when you have an incarceration rate that’s on the rise and wages that are on the decline, then you are not the No. 1 place to live in the United States, but we can get there,” she added.

Pressed about her past comments, Abrams defended them while acknowledging that it was an “inelegant delivery.”

“I had an inelegant delivery of a statement that I will keep making, and that is that Brian Kemp is a failed governor who doesn’t care about the people of Georgia,” she said. 

A spokesperson for Abrams’s campaign did not have additional comments on the new ad to The Hill, but pointed to PolitiFact’s factcheck of her remarks, which said, “with one exception, her data generally holds up” and that “Some of her numbers are a little off, or different studies found slightly different rankings.”

The campaign also noted their latest ad, called “Dream,” in which Abrams says that she loves Georgia but notes that “We’re the deadliest state for pregnant women. Sixth in infant deaths. Ninth in gun violence.”

—Updated at 6:30 p.m.