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Kemp takes oath of office, becomes Governor

There was a full day of festivities Monday in Atlanta, with Athens Republican Brian Kemp taking his oath of office and becoming Georgia's 83rd Governor. Newly-elected members of the Athens legislative delegation also took their seats in the Georgia House: Republicans Houston Gaines of Athens and Marcus Wiedower of Oconee County were inaugurated at the start of the new session of the Georgia legislature. 

From the AJC's Greg Bluestein…

Brian Kemp was sworn in as Georgia’s 83rd governor on Monday with a speech that aimed to put the charged, partisan campaign behind him and start anew with a pledge to work with Democrats to “put people ahead of divisive politics.”

During an inauguration ceremony at Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion, the Republican echoed a range of broad policies he proposed on the campaign trail: a promise to cut taxes and reduce regulations, to fully finance the k-12 system and “protect the values that we hold dear.”

And he committed to bridging the chasm left by an exceedingly bitter racebetween him and Stacey Abrams that widened the political gulf between metro Atlanta and the state's agricultural heartland, triggered a fierce battle over voting rights, and ended with the Democrat refusing to formally concede.

“Through the prism of politics, our state appears divided. Metro versus rural. Black versus white. Republican versus Democrat,” he said. “Elections can rip us apart. But after visiting all 159 counties, I can tell you we have so much in common. As governor, I will fight for all Georgians — not just the ones who voted for me.”

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