Candidates For Georgia Governor Face Off In Fiery Debate
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: With the midterms now just 13 days away, candidates are making their closing arguments. But, an October surprise could roil the governor's race in Georgia. The candidates squared off last night in a fiery debate. CNN's Kaylee Hartung has more.</s>KAYLEIGH HARTUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Georgia's gubernatorial race candidates trading personal jabs and working to gain an edge with voters in one of the nation's hotly-contested races.</s>BRIAN KEMP (D), GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE, CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA: My opponent has run the most dishonest campaign Georgians have ever seen.</s>STACEY ABRAMS (D), CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA: Under Sec. Kemp, more people have lost the right to vote in the state of Georgia. They have been purged, they have been suppressed, and they've been scared.</s>HARTUNG: At the outset of the debate, Abrams, who is hoping to become America's first female African-American governor, defending her involvement in this 1992 student protest where a Georgia state flag emblazoned with a Confederate emblem was burn.</s>ABRAMS: Twenty-six years ago, as a college freshman, I, along with many other Georgians, including the governor of Georgia, were deeply disturbed by the racial divisiveness that was embedded in the state flag with that Confederate symbol. I took an action of peaceful protest. I said that that was wrong. And 10 years later, my opponent, Brian Kemp, actually voted to remove that symbol.</s>HARTUNG: Kemp, who's been endorsed by President Trump, avoiding the topic but facing a grilling about his own controversies, including allegations he sought to suppress the minority vote as Georgia's Secretary of State.</s>KEMP: I've always fulfilled and followed the laws of our state and I'll continue to do that through the tenure of my service to this great state.</s>HARTUNG: A recent "Associated Press" report shows that Kemp's office has held up at least 53,000 voter registrations because they did not exactly match government records. That could be for anything from missing hyphens to misspelled names. Of those people, nearly 70 percent are potential African-American voters.</s>KEMP: Voters should look at the numbers and know that this is all a distraction to take away from Ms. Abram's extreme agenda. This farce about voter suppression and people being held up from being on the rolls and being able to vote is absolutely not true. Go to your polling location, show your government I.D., and you can vote.</s>ABRAMS: Voter suppression is not simply about being told no. It's about being told it's going to be hard to cast a ballot. Under his eight years of leadership, Mr. Kemp has created an atmosphere of fear around the right to vote in the state of Georgia.</s>HARTUNG: Abrams has called for Kemp to resign as Secretary of State. But on Tuesday, Kemp said he will not recuse himself as the state's chief election officer, even if the governor's race goes into a recount.</s>KEMP: We've got a very competent elections team to oversee that process.</s>HARTUNG: The two candidates entered this debate with similar strategies. Both wanted to continue to appeal to their polarized bases in a state where very few undecided voters remain. Both successfully did that, sticking to familiar talking points and topics. But this was the first time we got to see them attack each other face-to-face in ways we've previously only seen in campaign ads. John and Alisyn, we'll get another chance to see them go head-to-head in a debate the Sunday before Election Day.</s>ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Kaylee. Thank you very much for all of that. So let's look at that hotly-contested Georgia governor's race. There's something about Harry. Let's get "The Forecast" with CNN senior politics writer and analyst, Harry Enten. Harry, great to see you.</s>HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER AND ANALYST: Nice to see you.</s>CAMEROTA: Let's start in Georgia.</s>ENTEN: I wish we'd start in South Carolina. I wish I was there. I could have bought a lottery ticket and I wouldn't have to do this -- but let's go to Georgia. All right, I'm not sure that this -- there is a race in the nation that you have two candidates who are polar opposites. You have a black woman, a white man, but it's not just about racial and ethnic divisions. It's also about ideological divisions. So I went back and I looked at the voting record of Stacey Abrams in the State Legislature, and she is one of the most liberal representatives in that body. She's in the top two percentile for most liberal and this is since -- I screwed up with the cross but you get it -- since 1993. That says 1993 right there. So, she's very liberal. Versus if you look at -- if you look at the public information statements of Brian Kemp, he speaks -- his policy positions are as conservative as Ted Cruz. So we have two very, very different candidates. And right now, if you were to look at the Georgia average in the polls, you see that Brian Kemp --</s>BERMAN: Wow.</s>ENTEN: -- in the last five polls barely ahead. Look, this is a 1.2 -- that kind of looks like a 2-point difference. Very, very close. But here's why this difference is key. I have allocated the undecideds here so there are no undecideds in this average. Why is it key that Brian Kemp is under 50 percent? Because if no one reaches 50 percent on November sixth there will be a run-off between the two of them in December. So this election could go on for an extra month -- it's not just the end -- and then we could have the entire nation's eyes focused on this race.</s>BERMAN: That's the magic of Georgia there. And we talk about the changing electorate --</s>ENTEN: Yes.</s>BERMAN: -- in Georgia. What does that mean for now and what does that mean potentially in a run-off?</s>ENTEN: Right. So we can look at the Georgia electorate and it has changed significantly over the last 18 years. So back in 2000, white voters made up 72 percent of all voters. Black voters just made up 25 percent of all voters. Now, look where it is now. Black voters are all the way up to 33 percent; white voters are all the way down to 60 percent. So they're down 12 percentage points -- white voters. Black voters are up -- I'm going to say hello again -- eight points.</s>BERMAN: OK.</s>ENTEN: So that, of course, is a big deal because if you have racially polarized voting that could help Abrams. And more than that, I looked at run-offs in Georgia and I also looked at them in other southern states. And what we generally see is that even in Georgia black turnout has tended to drop in run-offs. And in other southern states it's actually tended to risen (sic) as a percentage of the electorate. So we'll see which one happens. If black turnout goes up in the run- off it could be very beneficial to Stacey Abrams.</s>CAMEROTA: We also hear all about the all-important suburban vote -- the suburban white women. What do you have on that?</s>ENTEN: So let's take a look at the -- at the suburbs. Gwinnett County, which is in the Atlanta suburbs -- the last successful Dem nominee Roy Barnes lost it by 25 points versus Hillary Clinton won it by six. If Stacey Abrams is going to win she is going to need high turnout from the Atlanta suburbs. Gwinnett, Cobb County, Fulton County where Atlanta is -- but the suburbs of Fulton. She's going to have to do very, very well there. And they are a growing percentage of the population. However, I should point out that white voters in the state who live outside of Gwinnett County, they have voted considerably more Republican over the last 20 years. And so we'll see exactly what happens. A very, very tight race.</s>BERMAN: It is some of the old Jimmy Carter voters who --</s>ENTEN: Right.</s>BERMAN: -- were just so different --</s>ENTEN: Right.</s>BERMAN: -- than they were in '76 or even way back in '98.</s>ENTEN: Exactly, exactly. I'll give you a quick -- just so we wrap it up here -- just where we are on the House. No change since yesterday. Democrats are still 226. Again, within the margin of error. We'll see if it changes tomorrow. And in the Senate, no change. Republicans still favored there. But remember, Republicans still have a chance in the House -- or -- yes -- although that's not the best case for the GOP. That's screwed up -- but -- this should be reversed. But -- and then in the Senate, Democrats still have a shot there. But again, Republicans favored in the Senate, Democrats favored in the House.</s>BERMAN: There's something about Harry. Harry, we're sorry you did not win the lottery.</s>ENTEN: I wish I had. I would have split it with you guys. I would have at least gotten you guys a million dollars each.</s>CAMEROTA: Wow, now we wish you had, as well.</s>BERMAN: Yes.</s>CAMEROTA: All right, thank you very much. Harry's forecast is available each day by 9:00 a.m. at cnn.com/forecast.</s>BERMAN: So, there are thousands of Central Americans making the journey through Mexico. A live report, next.