Kemp: Abrams is ‘blaming me for a problem’ Democrats created

Georgia’s governor-elect Brian Kemp (R) says that Democrats in the state are blaming his office for local county voting issues that he says were caused by Democratic officials.

{mosads}In an interview with Fox News, Kemp told “Fox & Friends” host Brian Kilmeade that complaints about insufficient polling locations, including in urban areas, were the results of decisions made by county officials in areas controlled by Democrats, saying the complaints are “just political rhetoric” and the “election has been certified.”

“The county elections officials, the local elections boards have the sole responsibility for how many polling locations they have and where they are,” said Kemp, formerly Georgia’s secretary of state before his resignation earlier this month.

“That has been the rule of law and the way it works in Georgia under Republican and Democratic secretaries of state,” he added. “And by the way: the one county where this was an issue before the election? They are controlled by Democrats. So [Democrat Stacey Abrams is] blaming me for a problem that they created.”

FOX & FRIENDS: Mr governor-elect, what do you say to people who say you cheated by canceling 1.4 million people off voter rolls since 201?@BrianKempGA: “Well, you know, I’m moving on. I’m the governor-elect. The election has been certified…this is just political rhetoric.” pic.twitter.com/ps0XsuU3l2

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 20, 2018

Kemp and Abrams have battled for months over Kemp’s management of elections in the state, which Democrats including Abrams and former Vice President Joe Biden likened to voter suppression due to questions about the validity of thousands of voter registrations in the state.

Abrams ended her fight for a runoff in the Georgia gubernatorial election last week, telling supporters that she saw “no legal path forward” against Kemp. Her campaign had previously argued that uncounted provisional ballots remained in a number great enough to push her into a Dec. 4 runoff with the Republican.

“I acknowledge that former Secretary of State Brian Kemp will be certified the victor in the 2018 gubernatorial elections,” she said last week.

“But to watch an elected official who claims to represent the people of this state baldly pin his hopes for election on the suppression of the people’s democratic right to vote has been truly appalling,” Abrams added in her concession speech.