Georgia voting fight sets the stage for Kemp's 2022 run

ATLANTA (AP) — A controversial new election law may help Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp rebuild his relationship with a broad swath of Republicans as he prepares to run for a second term next year.

The governor was narrowly elected in 2018 as a strong conservative and staunch ally of then-President Donald Trump. But Kemp’s refusal to bow to pressure from Trump to find a way to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the state left many of the former president’s allies seething — and eager to exact revenge at the ballot box.

That means the sweeping election law could be one of Kemp’s last hopes to rekindle a bond with Republicans who remain fiercely loyal to Trump and will be a critical force in next year’s GOP primary. The legislation, which Kemp signed into law, could give him an opening to persuade Republicans that he is an outsider, willing to stand up to Democrats, corporate leaders and sports leagues who have derided the measure as an affront to democracy that is based on false claims and needs to be rewritten.

“This is an absolute godsend for Brian Kemp,” said Brian Robinson, a Republican consultant and former top aide to Kemp’s predecessor, Nathan Deal.

Contention over the new law, which adds restrictions on mail voting and gives the GOP-controlled legislature greater control over how elections are run, came to a head Friday when Major League Baseball pulled this summer’s All-Star Game from Truist Park, outside Atlanta, in opposition. The chief executives of some of Georgia’s most prominent companies, including Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola, have also stepped up their criticism of the bill, calling it “unacceptable.”

“I want to be clear: I will not be backing down from this fight,” Kemp said during a quickly assembled news conference on Saturday after MLB’s decision was announced....