The first question local reporters shot Brian Kemp's way after a campaign stop here Wednesday had nothing to do with his Democratic opponent Stacey Abrams, President Trump's upcoming visit or any of the gubernatorial race's top policy divides.
It had to do with a much more parochial matter.
Monroe County was one of just two that Kemp lost to Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle during the July gubernatorial runoff, a loss that appeared to be tied to a long-running boundary dispute locals have with neighboring Bibb County. Despite Monroe County been deeply Republican, there are some residents who remain deeply suspicious of Kemp because of his role as secretary of state, which puts him in charge of hashing out the dispute.
That tension was on display on Wednesday, when a man appeared at Kemp’s rally with a sign that read: “Do your job. Set the line.”
Kemp said his office is still working on it. The case has been tied up in court, he said, and the surveyor who drew the county line has refused to testify.
“I’m not going to move a county line without being able to ask the person that drew the line a question about why they did what they did, and there’s a lot of legal reasons for that,” he said. “I’m ready to move on it as soon as we can get out of the courts again.”
Todd Tolbert, a local businessman who previously ran for retiring state Rep. Allen Peake’s seat, said he came to Wednesday’s rally to show his support despite the dispute.
“There are a lot of feelings involved, but it’ll get settled,” he said. “I think Republican voters here are going to come out strong in favor of Brian Kemp.”
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In between campaign stops in Warner Robins and Tifton – where Kemp pulled in with two campaign buses and a phalanx of family, statewide candidates and local elected officials – the Republican quietly peeled off for a detour with Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black.
In an unmarked gray SUV, the two men made a quick pit stop at the Turner County Stockyard.
Black said he coordinated the detour, which took place during a livestock sale. Like several of the officials on the stump with Kemp, he took a swipe at Abrams' recent comment that "people shouldn't have to go into agriculture or hospitality in Georgia to make a living."
“Agriculture is the number one industry in Georgia. We respect it, we don’t mock it,” he said in an interview. Georgia’s largest stockyard, he added, provides “a great picture of rural Georgia and it’s good we could take (Kemp) down there.”
Black, who’s running for a third term against Democrat Fred Swann, had a few more zingers in his stump speech. While introducing Kemp in Forsyth, Black suggested the campaigns pick theme songs.
“I would suggest to you that the theme song here for Brian Kemp and this ticket will always be ‘Georgia on My Mind,’” he said before turning to Abrams. “But, ladies and gentlemen, our choice on the other side is ‘I Left My Heart in San Francisco.’ That’s where their money’s coming from. It could be ‘New York, New York.’”
The GOP has endlessly slammed Abrams for the money she's fundraised from out-of-state donors in liberal bastions like New York and California.
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Kemp had a pretty standard response when we first broached the subject of Oprah Winfrey's now at-capacity Georgia visit on Wednesday morning. The secretary of state took a swipe at Abrams' celebrity endorsements while touting his support from Gov. Nathan Deal and President Trump. But by early afternoon he had sharpened his comeback.
Crediting Attorney General Chris Carr, who was standing nearby during a Tifton rally, Kemp quipped: “There hasn’t been this many Chicagoans that have come to Georgia to try to beat us since the Cubs were here back in July.”
Kemp was referring to Winfrey's planned stops in the Atlanta suburbs on Thursday and former President Barack Obama's upcoming Morehouse College visit on Friday.
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