Democrat Stacey Abrams announced today that Brian Kemp, her Republican opponent in the Georgia gubernatorial race, would be certified as governor.
“I acknowledge that former Secretary of State Brian Kemp will be certified as the victor in the 2018 gubernatorial election,” Abrams said at a press conference Friday, effectively conceding that she lost the race.
The announcement comes more than a week after the November midterm elections when Kemp came out as the top vote-getter in the race. But Abrams refused to concede, arguing that there were outstanding votes that needed to be counted. Since then her campaign has filed legal challenges and pushed to have additional absentee and provisional ballots counted.
That move lowered the margin of victory for Kemp but not by enough to trigger a runoff or recount.
But Abrams also criticized Kemp’s handling of the election as secretary of state and said her speech was not a normal concession of a fair election to an opponent. But Abrams still said she was dropping out.
“My assessment is the law allows no further viable remedy,” Abrams said.
