Jill Biden joining Stacey Abrams on Friday | GOP plans Brian Kemp day of support

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - First Lady Jill Biden will appear Friday with Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Stacey Abrams in Atlanta.

According to her office, the First Lady will begin her day visiting service members at Fort Benning. She will appear with Abrams “at a political event in Atlanta,” her office said.

The First Lady’s appearance comes only hours before Abrams and Gov. Brian Kemp are scheduled to meet in their first of two debates: Monday, Oct. 17, and Sunday, Oct. 30, both beginning at 7 p.m.

Also ahead of the debate, Citizens for a Greater Georgia and the Atlanta Young Republicans are hosting a day of action in support of Kemp, Insurance Commissioner John King and Liz Hausmann’s state Senate district 14 campaign. Former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler will join the candidates in canvassing nearby neighborhoods.

The nation’s most watched governor’s race is entering its final weeks. Abrams is seeking to unseat Kemp and become the nation’s first Black female governor, while Kemp is seeking his second, and final, term.

This year’s race is a rematch of their epic 2018 race, in which they both sought the governor’s mansion, as then-Gov. Nathan Deal was constitutionally prohibited from seeking a third term. Kemp was then secretary of state, while Abrams had just finished up a term as a state House representative from intown Atlanta.

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But this year’s rematch is much different from their 2018 encounter. Kemp now has a four-year record as governor of mostly popular conservative philosophies; oversees a strong state economy; and seems to have weathered a blistering attack from former President Donald Trump for not overturning the outcome of state’s 2020 presidential election.

Abrams narrowly lost that election to Kemp in a contest she has yet to concede.

Abrams, meanwhile, has been out of office since 2017 and is consistently trailing in the polls, the most recent coming Wednesday that showed Abrams trailing Kemp by 10 points.

Last week, Abrams reported her campaign has raised more than $36 million over a three-month period, and has more than $11 million cash on hand. Also last week, Kemp’s re-election campaign reported having raised almost $29 million over the latest, third-quarter fundraising period.

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