What Happens in the Georgia Governor's Race Now?
Georgia’s gubernatorial race drew two former presidents, A-list celebrities and the eye of every political watcher in the nation. By Wednesday morning, it was not yet over.
Republican Brian Kemp, the sitting secretary of state who did his level best to suppress and discourage high voter turnout, had earned 50.5 percent of the vote with all precincts reporting. That tally would give him just barely enough votes to avoid a runoff election. But Democrat Stacey Abrams, who received nearly 49 percent of the vote, had not yet conceded. Her campaign said that enough ballots remained to be counted in the heavily Democratic Atlanta metro area to drag Kemp below the 50 percent threshold and trigger a runoff election on Dec. 4th. (Libertarian Ted Metz, who joked about withdrawing from the race days before the election, received 36,000 votes, or 1 percent of the vote — enough to have pushed either major-party candidate over the majority threshold.)
“We believe our chance for a stronger Georgia is just within reach, but we cannot seize it until all voices are heard,” Abrams told her supporters in an Atlanta hotel on election night. “I promise you tonight we’re going to make sure that every vote is counted.”
Abrams, 44, became a national figure not long after her overwhelming July primary victory over Stacey Evans, a former Georgia state representative. The Mississippi native and former minority leader of Georgia’s state legislature drew support from Democratic stars like former President Barack Obama and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), as well entertainment superstars such as Oprah Winfrey, Will Ferrell and Michael B. Jordan.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/georgia-governor-race-results-752265/