Brian Kemp is an American businessman and politician who is serving as the 83rd governor of Georgia since January 2019 after narrowly defeating Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams in the highly controversial 2018 elections. He had been serving as the 27th secretary of state of Georgia since 2010, but refused to resign during his campaign for governor, for which he was accused of abuse of power by Democrats. He was further accused of voter suppression because he put on hold 53,000 voter registration applications, majority being African Americans, weeks before the election. As governor, he reportedly signed a law to keep his family’s history in slave trade a secret. His tenure as secretary of state was equally as controversial because he was the only state official to reject help from the Department of Homeland Security to guard against Russian interference during the 2016 election. He previously served as a member of the Georgia State Senate from 2003 to 2007.
