(Left) Republican gubernatorial candidate Gov. Brian Kemp speaks during his primary night election party at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta on May 24, 2022. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images); (Right) Stacey Abrams speaks onstage during the Beautiful Noise Live Equality on the Ballot panel at Buckhead Theatre in Atlanta on Sept. 19, 2022. (Marcus Ingram/Getty Images)
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Democrat Kwanza Hall, a former member of the Atlanta City Council who also briefly served in Congress, has broken with his party to endorse two Republican candidates for offices in Georgia in the upcoming midterm election.
Hall on Friday endorsed Gov. Brian Kemp, the GOP nominee for reelection, snubbing Democrat gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
“Over the last four years, I’ve witnessed Governor Kemp make tough decisions—ones that weren’t always popular at the time—in unprecedented circumstances,” Hall said in a statement obtained by The Epoch Times.
“While we don’t agree on every issue, it’s abundantly clear that Brian Kemp is a man of character, a strong leader, and someone who Georgians can trust to put them and their interests first,” he added.
In a statement, Kemp thanked Hall for his endorsement and called for the setting aside of partisan differences.
“I greatly appreciate Congressman Hall’s support in this campaign,” Kemp said in the statement. “Kwanza has ably served our capital city and state for many years, and I look forward to working with him and other hardworking Georgians to put political differences aside and keep our state the best place to live, work, and raise a family for the next four years.”
Abrams has not commented publicly on Hall’s endorsement of her opponent, but in a Saturday statement on Twitter said she’s someone Georgians “can count on.”
Hall also endorsed Republican Burt Jones in his bid to serve as Georgia’s lieutenant governor.
“Burt is the only candidate in the race with a plan to invest in our communities, lower costs, improve our K-12 education system, and reduce crime,” Hall said, according to Fox5.
Jones’s campaign was cited by Fox5 as saying that he looks forward to working across the aisle “to create more opportunities for hardworking Georgians and continue to make our state the best place to live, work and raise a family.”
Hall served three terms on the Atlanta City Council and later unsuccessfully ran for mayor. He also won a special election and served out the remainder of the late Rep. John Lewis’s term, a Democrat who represented Georgia’s 5th Congressional District.
Hall also ran for lieutenant governor earlier this year but lost out to fellow Democrat Charlie Bailey in a runoff after the latter was endorsed by Abrams.
The latest poll compilation by FiveThirtyEight shows Kemp ahead of Abrams by 7.7 points, with election day on Nov. 8.
