NASHVILLE – Gov. Brian Kemp participated in a luncheon at the Nashville Community Center in this Berrien County town to gauge reaction to his administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kemp reflected on Georgia’s situation for the past two years, stating his team was “fighting literally 24/7” to help flatten the virus curve, preserve personal protective equipment supplies and aid hospitals facing capacity conditions. 

While saying his main priority was protecting lives, Kemp added he also wanted to “protect livelihoods” as he felt that maintaining jobs and “a normal way of life” was in the best interest of Georgians despite facing backlash.

“I believe we need to protect livelihoods. That’s why we were the last state to shut down measuredly and the first state to reopen,” he said.

“I caught unmerciful grief from the national media, political pundits and my opponents who thought they knew what was best then because it was politically expedient to be that way.”

Economic viability became a central part of Kemp’s coronavirus response plan, he said, thanks in part to his own experiences keeping up his business in 2008 during the Great Recession.

“That’s a bad feeling when you make your car or truck payment. That’s a bad feeling when you can’t make the rent or mortgage. When you can’t provide for your children and get food, groceries and gas. I felt like that’s where a lot of Georgians were,” he said.

Kemp also addressed his controversial decision to lift the remaining restrictions for businesses, including restaurants, bars, conventions and live performance venues in May 2021. He also prohibited COVID-19 vaccine passport programs from going into effect, as well as allowing the public health emergency order to expire by July 1 of the same year.

Kemp said “the same critics” who lambasted his decision to open Georgia’s economy were also critical of his goal to “empower the local communities” to make the best decisions regarding whether children should return to the classroom during the reopening.

“You had people following the science on that issue. It was just the political science. Because the data in the Trump administration and the Biden administration is the same data. It says our children need to be in the classroom and they’re losing out if they’re not.”

He praised Georgia educators for their resilience in schools opening back up, saying “they figured it out” when dealing with social distancing and virtual learning. Kemp expressed delight that children in Georgia got to experience milestones such as playing sports and attending graduation.

“There are a lot of kids in America who didn’t get to do that. Some still aren’t experiencing that liberty and freedom that we have here. Our state is going to be better off for that,” he said.

Kemp told the audience that people want leadership that is “consistent, truthful and with a little bit of common sense” and assured them he wouldn’t waver on his stances, no matter how unpopular, as long as he’s governor. 

The lack of government interference in citizen’s personal affairs is one of the platforms he’s campaigning on as part of his reelection bid this May.

“Your government shouldn’t decide whether or not your kid will wear a mask in school. They shouldn’t be deciding whether or not you’ll take a vaccine, an experimental one at that. We don’t need the government telling us that,” he said.

“So many people have come up to me thanking me for never wavering. That’s what I said I was going to do in 2018; I was never going to bend whichever way the political winds were blowing no matter who was pressuring me. We did the same thing when we passed the Heartbeat Bill in 2019, which I also campaigned on. Even when Hollywood tried to cancel us, I stood up, told the truth and stood for our values in our state.”

Despite the Heartbeat Bill getting blocked by the United States district courts for being unconstitutional, Kemp said he feels his administration had accomplished so much, including ushering in “the best economy Georgia has seen in modern times”.

“It’s incredible to say that because last year there was a global pandemic. Because we’re open, we had a record economically,” he said.

“We have the lowest unemployment rate in the history of the state. We have the most people ever working in the state of Georgia right now,” Kemp said. “I’m continuing to work on my commitment to strengthen rural Georgia, and make sure no matter what neighborhood you’re in, you can have economic opportunities where you grew up.”