It's no secret that the heart-and-soul of Brian Kemp's race for Georgia governor depends on rural voters. A tepid turnout in the agricultural areas that Donald Trump dominated would spell doom for his campaign.
With Election Day rapidly approaching, the Republican is doubling down on his rural appeal. He announced a 20-stop bus tour next week that skirts metro Atlanta and other dense areas and crisscrosses smaller towns.
That journey will take him to a Piggly Wiggly in Hazlehurst, a sausage store in Ashburn and an ice cream shop in Pearson.
Many of these are the GOP strongholds that Trump won by giant margins; Pearson, for one, is the seat of the county that gave Trump his biggest margin of victory in the 2016 primary.
And he’ll try to leverage Stacey Abrams’ gaffe about farmers to rev up the crowds. His campaign recently touted a letter signed by 400 farmers criticizing the Democrat’s “shocking ignorance about our state’s oldest and largest industry.”
It’s referring to comments she made at an event in Statesboro, where she said “people shouldn’t have to go into agriculture or hospitality in order to make a living in Georgia.” Her campaign said she meant to emphasize the need for a more diverse economy.
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