Where Stacey Abrams, Brian Kemp Stand on Abortion, Inflation, and Crime

With only three weeks until the November 8 midterm elections, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, leads his Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams by 10 percentage points, according to a recent poll.

Abrams and Kemp will debate on Monday night. They are facing off for the second time, as Kemp beat Abrams by nearly 55,000 votes according to Ballotpedia in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Now, Abrams has returned to challenge Kemp and again trails behind him in the polls. Georgia, which leaned Republican until President Joe Biden narrowly won the state in the 2020 presidential election, is facing several big elections this year.

Abrams and Kemp stand on opposite sides of several key issues, with most of the issues exacerbated since the last time the two faced off four years ago. Here is where both candidates stand on three of the biggest issues facing Georgia voters.

Abortion

Kemp ran on a strong anti-abortion campaign in the 2018 election.

"I'm pro-life and unapologetic about it," the Republican tweeted in 2018 before he was elected governor. "As governor, I'll do what it takes to have the strongest pro-life, anti-abortion laws in the country."

He made good on his promises, signing a bill in 2019 that banned abortion as soon as a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can occur as early as six weeks in a woman's pregnancy.

Abrams traditionally supports abortion, but told Fox News Digital earlier this month that she "might support" some limitations on "later-term abortion" unless the health of the mother was at risk. She added that the medical procedure should be available "up until the point of viability as determined by the doctor."

"Abortion is a medical decision between a woman and her doctor. Georgia should be a state of grace and a state of mercy — not a state where the governor makes it his decision to deny women medical care," Abrams tweeted in August.

Inflation

As Americans are hit with rocketing prices on groceries and gas, while the Fed Reserve continues to raise interest rates, inflation is a big topic for Georgia voters.

Inflation has been a topic of discussion for most of Abrams' campaign. In mid-March, Abrams made a campaign stop in Thomasville and spoke about the issue just 10 days after filing to run for governor.

"Sadly inflation is a global issue but here in Georgia we can start to address it by actually doing the job of giving people the resources they need," she said, who also advocated for increasing wages and making "certain that people can keep as much money in their pockets."

Kemp also has taken a heavy stance against inflation and suspended Georgia's nearly 29-cent per gallon gas tax in March. He has since extended the suspension several times, and the gas tax holiday is expected to continue past the midterm elections and into mid-November.

The governor also voiced his support for two major proposals to take place if he's reelected for a second term. The proposals announced by Kemp are a $1 billion income tax rebate to Georgia taxpayers and an additional $1 billion "Georgia Homeowner Rebate" for homeowners across the state, according to Kemp's campaign website.

Crime

According to a Fox News article in late September, Kemp said he's been targeting crime for years.

"I ran on going after street gangs and drug cartels when I was running for governor in 2018," he said in the article.

During his time in office, Kemp has created a gang task force at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and gave Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr more resources for prosecuting gangs.

In June, Abrams suggested paying law enforcement officers more money in order to address crime.

"We must raise pay for officers and address violent crime as we work to build community trust and foster law enforcement accountability," she tweeted.

Earlier this year, Abrams said that violent crime in the state increased by 55 percent under Kemp's leadership. However, Factcheck.org, a website that reduces the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics, said her statement was false, and that violent crime increased by only 5 percent in 2020, but was still lower than Georgia's average history with violent crime.

"Governor Kemp remains laser focused on helping Georgia families fight rising costs through tax refunds, tax cuts, and creating economic opportunity in communities across our state, and he is proud to stand with law enforcement to keep our families safe," Kemp for Governor press secretary Tate Mitchell said to Newsweek in an email statement on Monday. "While Stacey Abrams celebrates a Biden agenda that created record inflation and champions dangerous, soft-on-crime policies, Governor Kemp will continue fighting to put hardworking Georgians first and build a safer, stronger Georgia."

Newsweek reached out to Abrams' campaign for comment.

Update 10/17/2022, 4:21 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to include comment from Kemp's campaign.