Live updates: US midterm elections and early voting news

Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp and Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams faced off his second and final gubernatorial debate Sunday evening, with a little more than a week to go before election day amid record early voting.

They divided on the economy of the state, the rights of abortion and, as a sign of the national implications of the race, that the party should be blamed for the misfortunes of the country.

Kemp has led in most polls in the race, but Abrams — who came within a few thousand votes of pushing his 2018 race to a run-off — has a strong base of support and has succeeded in helping mobilizing Democrats in their campaigns and those. of other high-profile Democratic candidates, including President Joe Biden and Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in their 2020 campaigns.

Here are some key points from the second government debate in Georgia:

A tale of two economies: Is Georgia booming, as Kemp says, or near a calamitous bust, as Abrams has argued?

The candidates painted very different pictures of the state’s economic situation, with Kemp pointing to higher wages and low unemployment — and blaming any pain on inflation, which he attributed to Democratic policies in Washington — while Abrams pointed to a wage low minimum and Kemp’s salary. refusal to accept Medicaid expansion funds under Obamacare as twin albatross carried by Georgia’s working class.

The future of abortion rights remains a powerful issue: In a sense, the abortion debate is on hold in Georgia. The state has a law on the books, passed three years ago, that bans the procedure after about six weeks. And with the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, it is now in effect.

But Abrams, and the debate moderators, had another question for Kemp: without federal limits in place, will the Republican, if re-elected, sign more restrictions into law?

Kemp didn’t give a direct yes or no answer, saying he didn’t want to prejudge “any specific piece of legislation without really seeing exactly what it does,” before adding: “It’s not my desire to go back, to go further the needle.

Joe Biden vs. Herschel Walker? They are not running for governor, but they are top of mind for many in Georgia.

For Democrats, it is GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker, who has become a symbol of what his critics describe as Republican hypocrisy on issues such as abortion, support for law enforcement and business intelligence.

On the Republican side, President Joe Biden is the boogeyman for most economic issues, with GOP candidates and their surrogates relentlessly trying to link Democratic candidates to the president and the rising inflation that has occurred during his time in office.

Read more takeaways here.