Brian Kemp

Brian Porter Kemp (born November 2, 1963) is an American businessman and politician serving as the 83rd Governor of the U.S. state of Georgia. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was the 27th Secretary of State of Georgia from 2010 to 2018 and a member of the Georgia State Senate from 2003 until 2007. Born in Athens, Georgia, Kemp is a graduate of the University of Georgia. Prior to entering politics, Kemp owned several agribusiness, financial services and real estate companies. In 2002 he was elected to the Georgia State Senate. In 2010, Kemp was appointed Secretary of State of Georgia by Governor Sonny Perdue following the resignation of Karen Handel to run for the governorship. Kemp was subsequently elected to a full term as Georgia Secretary of State in 2010; he was reelected in 2014. During Kemp's tenure as secretary of state, his office was affected by several accusations and controversies. In 2015, a data breach within Kemp's office distributed the Social Security numbers and dates of birth of over 6.2 million Georgia voters. Kemp was the only secretary of state to reject help from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to guard against Russian interference in the 2016 election. He also implemented Georgia's controversial "exact match" system for voter registration. Critics have described Kemp's actions as secretary of state as an example of democratic backsliding, although Kemp denies that he actively engaged in voter suppression. In 2018, Kemp was a candidate for governor. After coming in second place in the Republican primary, he defeated Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle in the Republican runoff with 69% of the vote. In the general election, he faced Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams. Kemp notably refused to resign as secretary of state while campaigning for governor, a move that some critics claimed constituted a conflict of interest. Following the general election on November 6, Kemp was declared the winner with 50.2% of the vote. Abrams subsequently suspended her campaign on November 16.