(CNN) Republican Brian Kemp says he will not recuse himself as Georgia's chief elections officer even if his gubernatorial race with Democrat Stacey Abrams goes to a recount.

The first question posed to the two-term Georgia secretary of state, asked by a debate moderator Tuesday night in Atlanta, drove at an issue that has drawn national attention to the campaign: accusations today, and from over the past eight years, that Kemp has sought to suppress the minority vote.

"We've got a very competent elections team to oversee that (recount) process," Kemp said, and in a nod to the microscope now on the state, added: "I'm certain that there would be a lot of people watching that."

With only 14 days to go before Election Day and early voting now in its second week, the contest to replace term-limited GOP Gov. Nathan Deal looks destined for a narrow finish, with the potential -- if neither major-party candidate wins a majority -- of a December runoff. In their Tuesday debate, the first of two, Abrams twice warned that Kemp's record in Georgia had created and sustained worries over the election process that could both turn away and scare off potential voters.

"Voter suppression is not simply about being told 'no,' " Abrams said. "It's about being told it is going to be hard to cast a ballot. And that's the deeper concern that I have. Because under (his) eight years of leadership, Mr. Kemp has created an atmosphere of fear around the right to vote in the state of Georgia."

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