Georgia Governor’s Race Comes To An End

Several days, weeks even, after it supposedly ended, the 2018 Georgia governor’s race came to a conclusion last Friday.

Democrat Stacey Abrams, who fell just short to Republican Brian Kemp, officially conceded. It was the right thing to do although it was clearly difficult for the historic candidate.

No amount of recounting or reviewing of the ballots was going to put Abrams over the top or even give her enough votes to get into a runoff or to win. The numbers simply were not there.

The strength of her campaign does probably mean Abrams could run again in the future for statewide office. However, to continue to pound the drum of a lost battle was not doing her or any future aspirations any good.

It remains to be seen what type of governor Kemp will be. He has held statewide elected office for a while so he has experience at that level. Being governor is not an easy job for any person and he will likely make some mistakes and almost certainly will do things to upset citizens, even those who supported and voted for him.

Political leanings aside Kemp is someone who cares about our state. He would not deliberately try to fail in this most important role.

One thing is clear, however. Georgians, like most of our country, is very divided right now. The political bantering from both sides needs to cool off. We are all proud citizens of this state and we are proud citizens of our country. (Yes I realize some are here illegally).

The statewide Democratic party, which still has two chances in the upcoming runoff to break the Republican stranglehold, made some important strides in this most recent election. Whether that momentum continues in 2020 or 2022 remains to be seen.

Abrams ran a better-than-expected campaign and deserves credit for that. It was definitely time for it to come to an end, however. It is time for our state to move forward and realize we are all in this together and that is true whether we support the same political party or not.

Week of thanks: Many of us will take time to pause and reflect on the things and people important to us this week.

Thanksgiving, to me, has always been associated with fall and recent temperatures have shown us that summer is definitely behind us for another year.

I trust each of you has the time to spend with family and loved ones this Thanksgiving. Let’s remember those who work on this holiday (and all holidays) and will not be with their families. The paramedics, policemen, firemen, 911 operators and, of course, those serving in the military are apart from their loved ones on special days like Thanksgiving.

The dedication of these men and women are something each of us should be thankful for every day of the year. With them performing their every day jobs I know we are all safer and each of us owes them a huge debt of gratitude.

A new year approaches: We still have more than a month to go in 2018 but many have already looked ahead to the new year. Each of us hope for positive things every day on the calendar but there has always been something significant about a new year beginning.

Here’s hoping each of you reading this can finish this year on a positive note. Thank you for reading from time to time and here’s hoping the road ahead will be good for everyone.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Monticello native Chris Bridges is a long-time newspaper columnist. He has earned awards from the Georgia Press Association, the National Newspaper Association and the Georgia Sports Writers Association. He welcomes feedback about this column at pchrisbridges@gmail.com.