Still, his decision to defy Donald Trump and ratify Joe Biden's presidential electors in 2020 has won Kemp credit with some Democrats. That goodwill showed up in Georgia's May primaries, when a notable number of Democratic-leaning voters cast Republican ballots to help Kemp trounce his Trump-endorsed challenger.

Now, heading into the general election, Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams needs those voters in her column. And she is unvarnished in arguing that Kemp is due nothing from voters for refusing to subvert a free and fair American presidential election.

“Let me be clear,” Abrams says near the end of her half-hour campaign pitch. “Not committing treason does not make you a hero.”

The crowds at Abrams' events roar at the line, betraying at least some worry that Kemp's handling of Trump could curry favor with enough moderate voters and prove a decisive variable in this rematch from four years ago.

Kemp and Georgia's Republican secretary of state drew Trump's public ire when they signed off on Biden's victory in the state, which had been a Republican lock in presidential elections since 1996.

Of course, Kemp never explicitly pushed back on Trump's false claims that Biden's win was fraudulent; the governor stuck to a matter-of-fact explanation that he was following the law. His approach incensed Trump's most ardent supporters. But it also proved a subtle way for Kemp to position himself as a moderating force within Trump's party, giving the governor an opening to fashion a November coalition of his own core supporters and key swing voters.

That balance is how Kemp narrowly defeated Abrams in 2018 and how Democrats, in turn, shifted Georgia their way in 2020.