Georgia Gov. Kemp: Abrams Should Not Have Injected Politics in Baseball

Gov. Brian Kemp didn't mince words after the All-Star Game was pulled from Atlanta earlier this year over Georgia's Election Integrity Act: It was "ridiculous to inject politics into sports," he said.

Major League Baseball, facing pressure from people like failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, pulled its All-Star Game from Atlanta, but now that the Braves are in the World Series, fans can celebrate championship games returning to their home field, Gov. Brain Kemp said Monday. 

The Atlanta Braves are in their first World Series since 1999, after the team took game 6 Saturday over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Their win comes just months after the All-Star Game was moved to Denver after outcry against Georgia's Election Integrity Act, and Kemp told Fox News' "Fox and Friends" that the move came as a result of lies from Abrams and other activists about the state's law. 

"They moved it to a state, Colorado, that is more restricted than Georgia is," said Kemp. "It was just a purely political decision driven by pressure from Stacey Abrams and a lot of activist groups. They lied about the Elections Integrity Act, that it's suppressive, and Jim Crow 2.0. It's not."

Now, there is early voting going on across the state, and so far, there are no "horror stories," and the state will keep up its fight against a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice over the elections law, the Republican governor said. 

But now, the Braves and their win means great things for hard-working Georgians, said Kemp. 

"That's what was so outrageous about the last decision," he said. "That took $100 million of economic impact away from small business owners, a lot of minority businesses, and employees in Atlanta and then Cobb County where the ballpark is, for no reason other than politics."

So while it's great to see the series coming to Atlanta for the team and the fans, "it's also good for those small business owners and hard-working Georgians," said Kemp. 

The Braves are facing off against the Houston Astros. The first two games, starting on Tuesday, and the last two games (if necessary in the best-of-seven games series) will be at Minute Maid Park in Houston, while the middle three games, with Game 5 being played only if necessary, will be at Truist Park in Atlanta, meaning championship games in Atlanta on Friday, Saturday, and potentially Sunday nights, reports Sporting News.

Abrams, meanwhile, denied that she had anything to do with removing the All-Star Game, and Kemp said Monday he'd called that the "biggest flip-flop since John Kerry."

"You can't have it both ways," said Kemp. "She was pressuring all these folks; I know that. Then she changed course, and she even got to change her op-ed to USA Today. Have you ever known a politician that could go back and change an op-ed?

"She knew the polling didn't look good on the Elections Integrity Act because people support voter ID. They want drop boxes to be secure."

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