Pence backs GOP’s Kemp as Democrat Abrams hits on Medicaid

Former Vice President Mike Pence took the stage Tuesday in Georgia to reinforce the main thrusts of Gov. Brian Kemp’s case for reelection against Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams, arguing that Kemp has been good for Georgia’s economy and Abrams is soft on crime.

“No one in Georgia’s history has done more to create jobs, cut taxes, restore sanity to your schools, put criminals behind bars, protect the unborn and secure all the God-given liberties enshrined in the Constitution of the United States than Gov. Brian Kemp,” Pence told about 150 people in Cumming, part of a belt of Republican-dominated Atlanta exurbs key to Kemp’s reelection.

Abrams, who lost narrowly to Kemp four years ago, used Pence’s Georgia swing to amplify her long-running critique of Kemp’s refusal to expand the Medicaid health insurance program. She stood outside a major Atlanta hospital that closed its doors permanently at midnight Monday and noted that Pence, as governor of Indiana, embraced Medicaid expansion even though it was part of Democrats’ 2010 health insurance overhaul.

Pence’s visit, along with subsequent appearances this week by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, will spotlight Kemp’s campaign in the closing days of advance voting and ahead of what the GOP hopes is a surge of Election Day ballots.