The official Twitter account of the Georgia Democratic Party declared Republican Brian Kemp to be an "asterisk governor" who oversaw a "stolen election" as he prepares to take office.
Kemp, a conservative supporter of President Donald Trump replaces outgoing Republican Gov. Nathan Deal.
A day before Kemp's swearing-in ceremony set for Monday, the state's Democratic Party tweeted, "Brian Kemp is and will always be Georgia's Asterisk Governor."
It also wrote, using an emoji for excrement, that he will have to deal with, "A stolen election he oversaw," "failure to pay millions in loans," "copyright lawsuit from Braves' photog," "Cong. investigation into voter suppression," and a "Speaker from own party already derailing his agenda."
Kemp won the state's closest gubernatorial race in decades in a bitterly fought contest with Democrat Stacey Abrams, who accused Kemp of systematic voter suppression as Georgia's secretary of state and called the election an "erosion of our democracy."
Brian Kemp is and will always be Georgia’s Asterisk Governor.
— Georgia Democrat (@GeorgiaDemocrat) January 14, 2019
https://twitter.com/GeorgiaDemocrat/status/1084603348463034369
Kemp ultimately defeated Abrams by more than 50,000 votes, avoiding a runoff by getting more than 50 percent of the tally. Countering Abrams' claims the election was not "free and fair," turnout in 2018 dwarfed that of previous midterm years in Georgia, and voter registrations under Kemp, while he was secretary, grew by 20 percent.
Much of the criticism against him stemmed from Georgia's enforcement of so-called purges of registrations due to inactivity or violations of "exact match" laws, as well as rural precinct closings having nothing to do with his office. Accusations of racial bias by his office did not hold up to scrutiny.
Multiple prominent Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio), and Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.), still declared the election to be stolen from Abrams.
Abrams, who would have been the nation's first black female governor if she had won, has said she's considering a run for the U.S. Senate in 2020 against Sen. David Perdue (R., Ga.).