Wanting to brand his challenger damaged goods, Kemp said several times that Perdue lost his last election to Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff. The governor was more focused on preparing his race against presumptive Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams.
Kemp reiterated three times that he wants to make sure “Stacey Abrams is never your governor or your next president” and that he is the only candidate who has already beaten her, referring to his 2018 win.
The two candidates also discussed rising crime, the economy and pandemic restrictions, and the issue of city affiliation for Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood. But the distance between Kemp and Perdue’s positions in the 2020 election presented the biggest difference, as both sought to boast their conservative positions on supporting law enforcement, ending illegal immigration and improving Georgia’s economy.
The state’s Republican primary on May 24 has races up and down the ballots with Trump-backed candidates. Trump has endorsed five candidates running statewide in Georgia, but the governor’s race has received special attention from the former president.
Trump began a public feud with Kemp after the November 2020 presidential election when he urged the governor not to confirm the state’s election results. He also called on Kemp to call a special session of the state legislature to appoint a new group of Republican voters to cast the state electoral college votes. Kemp refused.
Perdue repeated Trump’s calls for a special session on Sunday. He also complained to the incumbent governor that no voter fraud arrests had been made in connection with the 2020 election.
“Weak leaders take credit when things are going well and blame others when they aren’t,” Perdue said.
Kemp’s response: “Weak leaders blame everyone else for their own loss instead of themselves.”
Kemp added that “looking in the rearview mirror” will not defeat Abrams, who was mentioned at least 15 times during the debate.
Trump claimed Kemp’s victory in the 2018 gubernatorial race after his support helped in a runoff, and he told aides that Kemp owed him a political debt. When Kemp failed to comply with Trump’s wishes, Trump vigorously and consistently attacked him.
At a rally last year, Trump even went so far as to suggest that if they repeated their head-to-head game this November, he would prefer Abrams to Kemp.
“Of course I think she might be better to have than your current governor, if you want to know what I think. Could very well be better,” Trump said at a rally in Perry, Georgia in September 2021.
Perdue became Trump’s nominee of choice for governor and quickly accepted calls to investigate the 2020 election and criticism that Kemp should have called a special session for his campaign.
Despite Trump’s endorsement, Perdue still trails in the polls: The latest WGCL-TV/Landmark poll shows Kemp has a 24-point lead over Perdue. Fifty-two percent of people supported Kemp, 27 percent supported Perdue, and about 10 percent were undecided.
Previous polls from this year also all show that Kemp is a leader.
A Trump rally in March for Perdue and his other supporters in Commerce, Georgia didn’t move the polls.
“Well, Trump came and there was extensive media coverage of his rally. If you don’t know at this point, you’re not a voter,” Brian Robinson, a Republican adviser, said in a pre-debate interview. “You are so disinterested that there is no way you can know there is an election on May 24.”
According to the latest campaign finance disclosures, Kemp has more than $12 million in cash compared to less than $1 million at Perdue.
Previously, both candidates have missed debates: Perdue missed his only debate with Ossoff before the 2021 runoff, and Kemp did not appear for any debate against Abrams in the 2018 race.
The two Republicans will face each other again in another debate on Thursday.
