Stacey Abrams is running for Georgia governor, setting up potential rematch with Gov. Brian Kemp

Updated: Stacey Abrams missed forcing a runoff in Georgia's 2018 gubernatorial election by 45,979 votes. An earlier version of this story contained incorrect information.

Democrat Stacey Abrams announced on Wednesday she was running for Georgia governor, setting up the first test of Georgia's swing state status following President Joe Biden's win during the 2020 election.

In a campaign announcement video released via Twitter, Abrams said she is running to make sure all Georgians have access to the same levels of opportunity, highlighting her work over the last four years.

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“Opportunity and success in Georgia shouldn’t be determined by your ZIP code, background or access to power. If our Georgia is going to move to its next and greatest chapter, we're going to need leadership,” Abrams said.

Abrams' announcement means a potential rematch with Brian Kemp, who narrowly defeated her in the 2018 race. Kemp has announced he will seek re-election but will face primary challengers, including former state lawmaker Vernon Jones. Former U.S. Senate David Perdue, who lost his seat to Jon Ossoff in the 2020 election, is also exploring a run.

Despite Abrams’ loss to Kemp in 2018, her 2022 bid has long been expected by both Democrats and Republicans. If Abrams wins, she'll be the first Black governor in Georgia's history, as well as the first Black woman to be governor in U.S. history.

Abrams lost the 2018 race to Kemp by 1.4 percentage points. She missed forcing a runoff by 45,979 votes.

Her showing against Kemp - and the media coverage around the race - supercharged her profile within the Democratic Party. She was chosen to deliver the Democrat response to then-President Donald Trump’s 2019 State of the Union address.

She was courted as a candidate for the 2020 election, first for a U.S. Senate post and later as a potential vice presidential running mate to Joe Biden. Once Biden selected Kamala Harris as his VP, Abrams turned her focus to rallying support for Biden, Harris and eventual Senate winners Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.

More: Does Georgia's new election law allow Republicans to overturn election results? No.

A rematch (maybe)

The political environment of Georgia in 2021 is starkly different than it was in 2018, and many credit Abrams for that change. Through her work with FairFight, a political action committee focused on voting rights, and other get-out-the-vote organizations, Abrams had a hand in registering an estimated 800,000 new Georgia voters ahead of the 2020 elections.

Georgia flipped blue in the 2020 presidential election, sending the state’s 16 electoral college votes to a Democrat for the first time since 1992.

Similarly, Georgia’s governor seat has not been occupied by a Democrat since 2003, when Roy Barnes held the post. Abrams' candidacy will test the notion that Georgia is a swing state where Democrats can regularly unseat Republicans.

It’s a question Abrams will have time to answer. No other Democrat in the state has announced a gubernatorial run, and due to her stature within the national Democratic hierarchy, she’s not expected to have any competition in the primary. Her announcement leaves her with the full month of December to fundraise.

On the Republican side, the gubernatorial landscape is not so simple.

Republican voters helped Kemp beat Abrams in 2018, but that was before Kemp rebuffed Trump's allegations of election fraud in Georgia. Since the 2020 election, county and district Republican Party organizations have experienced internal clashes between traditional, establishment types and vocal pro-Trumpers.

More: Trump tweets that 'obstructionist' Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp should resign over election handling

In the meantime, Trump has publicly courted candidates to challenge Kemp in the 2022 primary, including Perdue.

Kemp campaigns against Abrams

In the same way FairFight and Abrams have peppered radio and TV with anti-Kemp messaging since 2018, Kemp has been campaigning against Abrams at every opportunity.

When Major League Baseball decided to pull the All-Star Game out of Atlanta after Kemp signed S.B. 202, the controversial 2021 voting bill that drew national headlines and criticism, Kemp blamed Abrams.

"This attack on our state is the direct result of repeated lies from Joe Biden and Stacey Abrams about a bill that expands access to the ballot box and ensures the integrity of our elections," Kemp said.

More: A Kemp-Perdue primary? Why Georgia Republicans are sabotaging own 2022 election chances

The governor's race will run alongside other high-profile midterm contests, including Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock’s first test since being elected in the runoff in January. Warnock will likely face Herschel Walker, the former Georgia Bulldog football star.

The midterms will be the first large-scale election with S.B. 202 in place, and the newly redrawn political district lines, fresh from the state’s special session on redistricting in November.

Will Peebles is the enterprise reporter for Savannah Morning News. He can be reached at wpeebles@gannett.com and @willpeeblessmn on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Stacey Abrams announces run for Georgia governor, rematch with Kemp