Gov. Brian Kemp visits Louisville on campaign trail

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s bus stopped on Broad Street in Louisville Thursday, April 14, where he met with around 200 constituents and local leaders.

Kemp told citizens that he is campaigning on two fronts, one for the Republican primary May 24 against Catherine Davis, David Perdue, Kandiss Taylor and Tom Williams, as well as the general election Nov. 8 against Democrat Stacey Abrams.

“I’m running for reelection,” Kemp told those gathered at The Homefresh Bistro. “I’m focused on the May 24th primary. We’re also going to stay focused on November to make sure we keep the state moving in the right direction.”

Although much has changed since he first campaigned for governor in 2018, Kemp harkened back to that pre-pandemic election and the promises he made leading up to it. His commitment to the economy, to businesses, to law enforcement, to education and to religious freedoms have not waivered, he said.

“I promised that every single day I was going to put hard working Georgians first,” Kemp told the crowd, and later added, “I’ve talked about strengthening rural Georgia and making sure that communities like Louisville and Jefferson County have great opportunities.”

He talked about the current expansion of US Highway 1 from two to four lanes throughout the length of Jefferson County. Kemp said that because the state budgeted conservatively during the pandemic and kept the state open, revenue held up and they were able to use federal funds to prioritize and speed up highway projects like this one.

“We drive that route a lot,” Kemp said. “It’s a key route on the east side of our state, key for logistics for traffic coming out of our port in Savannah, and it’s great for people traveling our state for tourism or businesses.”

The governor said that he took a lot of heat for fighting to keep the state’s businesses open despite pressure to shut down and reduce the spread of COVID. Kemp said that his focus was on protecting both lives and livelihoods so that business like the small town, locally owned and operated restaurant where Thursday’s event was held, could decide for themselves when it was safe to reopen.

He talked about his own business during the recession of the late 2000s, and how his family struggled to pay employees and suppliers.

“That is a desperate feeling and I felt like that’s where a lot of people in our state were who had been doing what we asked them to do. They helped us build hospital capacity, PPE supply, flatten the curve and stop the spread,” Kemp said. “Nobody ever told us we were going to have to do that forever. Nobody told us we were going to have to lose our generational businesses and not be able to take care of the people who helped us build those businesses that we were working for. That’s what it turned into. All I did was give people the opportunity. I didn’t force anybody to go back to work. I didn’t force a business to open. I simple gave people the opportunity to make that decision for themselves.”

He believes that it was the right decision then and it continues to be.

“Because we did that our state is leading the great recovery in the United States of America,” Kemp said to a round of applause. “We have one of the best economies that I’ve ever seen. Lowest unemployment rate in the history of the state. The most people ever working in our state and the least amount of people on our unemployment rolls since post 9/11.”

Last year the state had a record year for economic development, he said, and added that this year has already surpassed last year’s figures with a quarter left to go.

“And 74 percent of those projects located outside of the 10 metro counties making sure everyone has opportunities no matter the zip code, no matter the neighborhood where they live,” Kemp said.

Kemp talked about moves to lower the state income tax, creating a two-month moratorium on fuel taxes to offset fuel costs, legislation like the Parents Bill of Rights, the Freedom to Farm Act and standing behind law enforcement by providing additional resources to the Attorney General’s office, the state crime lab and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

“I pushed to open our economy, get our kids back in school, kept our churches open, stood with our men and women in law enforcement, that’s what people want in their governor,” Kemp told reporters after the event. “They’ve seen that if you have the wrong governor you’re not going to be able to go to work, your kids won’t go to school and you won’t be able to go places to worship and your cities will be moving to defund the police and not keeping your family safe. That's not the kind of state I want to live in and that’s what this fight is all about and I think Georgians understand that.”

After shaking hands at the event Kemp and his wife crossed Broad Street and visited with John Maynard, the Wrens Chief of Police and pastor of Resurrection Church in their sanctuary in downtown Louisville.

Maynard thanked Kemp for allowing churches to stay open during the pandemic. He explained that in just the last couple of years he started his church under his carport with 16 chairs.

“I’m grateful for this man of God and for what the Lord is doing in his life and for what he’s doing in this community,” Maynard said. “If it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t have this church now.”

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Gov. Brian Kemp visits Louisville on campaign trail