Stacey Abrams Concedes Election Years After Bitter Fight with Brian Kemp

Stacey Abrams conceded to her Republican opponent Brian Kemp in Georgia's gubernatorial race, with Kemp projected to win the state 53.8 percent to 45.5 percent, according to a report from Politico.

Kemp was projected as Georgia's winner by NBC, CBS and ABC News as well with 88 percent of the votes counted as of 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. Abrams conceded prior to the Associated Press (AP) calling the race, according to The New York Times.

In a video posted to Twitter by Craig Allison, a reporter for News 12 in Augusta, Georgia, Abrams addressed a crowd of cheering supporters at her watch party after conceding, telling voters to be "perplexed, but not in despair."

"I know the results aren't what we hoped for tonight, and I understand that you are hurting and you are disappointed, I am too," Abrams said. "We may not have made it to the finish line, but we ran that race."

Abrams closed her speech by adding that "while we may not write the story today, there will always be another chapter, and we will get it done."

Abrams lost to Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial race but had refused to concede at the time. Newsweek previously reported that Abrams accused Kemp, who was serving as Georgia's secretary of state, "of deliberately keeping over 1 million Georgians from casting ballots by improperly removing them from the rolls." While she accepted that Kemp would take office, the Democrat nominee also filed a lawsuit alleging that the state had violated voters' constitutional rights. A federal judge in late September ruled against Abrams' claims.

Abrams' campaign focused heavily on abortion rights and expansions for the state's Medicare plan while Kemp ran for gun rights measures. The Georgia governor also distanced himself from Trump-endorsed GOP candidates like Herschel Walker, and beat former President Donald Trump's pick for the gubernatorial race in Georgia's primaries.

According to a video posted by ABC News field producer Elizabeth Campbell, attendees of Walker's watch party broke out into song as news of Abrams' defeat spread, with voters chanting in unison, "Hey, hey, hey, goodbye."

Campbell also tweeted snippets from Kemp's victory speech, saying that the governor told supporters that Georgia was going to "send another billion dollars back to taxpayers" by January of next year, building off the governor's campaign promise to solve voters' inflation issues.

"Tonight we stopped Stacey and saved Georgia," Kemp told the crowd, according to Campbell.

Walker is currently tied for Senate against Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock, according to the Times, which reported that 89 percent of Georgia's votes had been counted as of 12:11 a.m. Wednesday.

Newsweek reached out to Abrams' campaign for comment on Tuesday's election results.

Update 11/09/22, 12:14 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information and background.