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Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams hit back at Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday after his campaign began running an ad earlier this week tying her to the "Defund the Police" movement.
"I do not and never have supported efforts to defund the police," Abrams said in an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital.
"But unlike my opponent, who has called base pay for law enforcement officers 'bad policy,' I firmly believe that we must invest in law enforcement to ensure that no one is working in public safety without just compensation — while also working to improve accountability and build trust within our communities," she added.
Abrams' staunch defense of her position on policing was accompanied by a new 30-second ad her campaign released earlier in the day titled "Truth." In the ad, Abrams accused Kemp of trying to distract Georgians from her record that, she says, shows she's actually supported law enforcement throughout her political career.
"Brian Kemp wants you to be afraid of me. Why? Because he thinks it will distract Georgians from the truth," Abrams says in the ad. "As a legislator, I worked with the [Georgia Bureau of Investigations], with the Sheriff's Association, and with our police departments to ensure that they had the resources, the training, and the support they needed.
"I will support law enforcement. And law enforcement agrees. Brian Kemp wants to bash me for my honesty and lie about my record, but my parents taught me to tell the whole story, and that's the truth," she said.
Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is running against incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Fox News Digital reached out to Kemp's campaign for comment and received a statement from his campaign press secretary, Tate Mitchell, pushing back on Abrams' claims in the ad.
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"Unfortunately for the Abrams campaign, the tape doesn't lie," Mitchell said, referencing previous media appearances by Abrams included in Kemp's ad.
"No one forced Abrams to go on TV and say yes to defunding the police or made her profit from serving on the board of an anti-police, radical organization. This is a starring feature of Abrams' far-left agenda for Georgia — not a bug," he added.
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