Kemp, Perdue to meet for first face-to-face square off

Republican rivals meet for first of three debates

Perdue and Kemp

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and former U.S. Sen. David Perdue are set to meet for their first face-to-face debate on Sunday night.

The live, hour-long debate will air at 7:00 P.M. on WSB-TV and will be moderated by Channel 2 Action News evening anchor Justin Farmer.

It is the first of three debates that the two rivals have agreed to participate in, with Savannah’s WTOC scheduled to host one on Thursday and Georgia Public Broadcasting wrapping things up on May 1.

Kemp went from being an ally to a pariah in the eyes of former President Donald Trump for refusing to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which saw Joe Biden become the first Democrat to win Georgia since 1992.

But he is coming off of what many political observers believe was the most conservative legislative session in state history. Bills that loosen gun restrictions, limit race discussions in schools and take aim at transgender athletes are just some of the conservative priorities that the governor has pushed this session.

Perdue, who has been endorsed by the former President, famously dodged debates in his 2020 race for Senate, which he ultimately lost to Democrat Jon Ossoff.

Sunday night’s debate will be the former Senator’s first big chance to distinguish himself from Kemp, who is the first lifelong Republican governor in modern history. He has called for doing away with the state income tax and allowing Buckhead to vote on cityhood. In recent weeks, he has also been suggesting without evidence that his defeat to Ossoff was tainted.

With early in-person voting set to begin in a week, Kemp and Perdue are running out of time to make their case to Georgia Republican voters. Absentee ballots will start arriving in mailboxes this week. Election day is May 24.