Braves pennant win prompts GOP's Brian Kemp to jab at Stacey Abrams, MLB over Atlanta All-Star snub
Major League Baseball moved its All-Star Game out of Atlanta earlier this year and played it in Denver in a dispute over Georgia’s new election law
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp wasn’t willing to forgive and forget Saturday night after the Atlanta Braves eliminated the Los Angeles Dodgers and won the National League pennant.
In a tweet posted shortly before midnight, while much of the Atlanta area was still celebrating the Braves’ 4-2 victory in Game 6 of the NL Championship Series – clinching the team’s first league title since 1999 – Kemp was recalling the events of the past summer, when Major League Baseball pulled its All-Star Game out of Atlanta and moved it to Denver in a dispute over Georgia’s new election law.
Kemp’s tweet took aim at both MLB and Stacey Abrams, the Democrat whom Republican Kemp defeated in Georgia’s last gubernatorial election in 2018 who has since made election and voting issues the focus of her continued political activism.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}BRAVES CLINCH WORLD SERIES BERTH WITH NLCS GAME 6 WIN OVER DEFENDING CHAMPION DODGERS
"While Stacey Abrams and the MLB stole the All-Star Game from hardworking Georgians, the Braves earned their trip to the World Series this season and are bringing it home to Georgia," Kemp wrote.
"Chop On, and Go @Braves!"
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Back in April, MLB decided to relocate the scheduled July 13 All-Star Game after critics complained that Georgia’s election law would adversely affect minority and low-income voters.
Others, who viewed MLB as bowing to "woke" political pressure – and blamed Abrams for much of it -- argued that the baseball league’s decision would ironically hurt minorities – by removing economic activity from 51% Black Atlanta and transferring it to 76% White Denver.
Workers load an All-Star sign onto a trailer after it was removed from Truist Park in Atlanta, Tuesday, April 6, 2021. Major League Baseball relocated the All-Star Game to Denver over objections to sweeping changes to Georgia's voting laws. (Associated Press)
Atlanta also had 30% Black-owned businesses, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted at the time.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Abrams continued to receive blame for the All-Star shift, despite arguing against economic boycotts in an essay for USA Today. But her seemingly contradictory positions prompted Kemp to call her "the biggest flip-flopper since John Kerry."
Stacey Abrams, left, and Brian Kemp are seen in separate photos taken May 20, 2018. (Associated Press)
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Georgia’s election law sets an ID requirement for mail-in votes, limits the use of ballot drop-off boxes and gives the state Legislature more control over local-level elections, the Journal-Constitution reported. It also expands voting in some rural areas of the state.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Unlike Kemp, at least one other Georgia Republican seemed willing to put the All-Star Game dispute behind her.
"Congratulations @Braves," Marci McCarthy, GOP chairwoman in DeKalb County, wrote on Twitter. "Who needs the @MLB All-Star Game when you get to play in the World Series! #GoBraves"
The Braves will face the American League’s Houston Astros, who eliminated the Boston Red Sox on Friday night in the AL Championship Series.