As Georgians take to early voting in record numbers, Gov. Brian Kemp extolled his record in office and assailed his opponent Tuesday afternoon.

Kemp, who won the governor’s race four years ago against former state lawmaker Stacey Abrams, is squaring off again against Abrams, a Democrat who has drawn several big-name politicians and celebrities to her campaign.

Speaking before supporters in Hinesville on Tuesday, Kemp was quick to draw the lines between how the state handled the COVID-19 pandemic and how it would have under Abrams’.

“She doesn’t people reminded that she wanted our economy to stay shut down,” he said. “She wanted our kids stuck in the basement behind a computer screen. She wanted to defund the police and end cash bail.

“She doesn’t want to be reminded of the bad policies out of Washington, D.C., that her party created.”

Kemp also defended opening the state’s businesses and schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We opened up sooner than anybody, and I took a lot of grief for that,” he told supporters. “But I tell people I wasn’t listening to them and I am not listening to them now. The data from two years ago is the same data we have now — our kids need to be in the classroom.

We never wavered. We were listening to the small business owners, cosmetologists, barbers who were telling us ‘we can’t keep doing this.’ I was listening to coaches, administrators, educators who were saying we’re losing a generation of our kids by not having them in the classrooms.

“If Stacey Abrams had been your governor, she would have been fighting against you,” Kemp added, “to keep you locked down, to keep your kids locked down.”

Most polls have Kemp with a strong lead, as much as 10 points in some measurements. The state’s economy, he said, continues to grow stronger and is coming off back-to-back record years.

Kemp was on hand in northern Bryan County on Tuesday morning for the official groundbreaking of Hyundai’s planned EV plant, a $5.54 billion project that is expected to create 8,000 jobs.

“It is a generational type project because we were open,” he said, “because we have a good business environment.”

Kemp also pointed to other gains in the state’s economy, noting there were 385 other announcements of new businesses and industries, totaling $20 billion in investment and 51,000 new jobs.

The governor also said that under his leadership, the state is doing its part to alleviate the burden of inflation, which is at its highest marks in nearly 40 years. The state’s gas tax has been suspended since March, which has resulted in $800 million in savings for Georgians, he said.

“Every Georgian is saving 30 cents a gallon,” he said.

Kemp said he is talking to state lawmakers each month about extending the gas tax suspension.

Also, the state refunded $1 billion in taxes to its residents last year, and Kemp said more money is coming back to Georgians soon. “We passed the largest state income tax cut in our state’s history and plan to do more in the future,” he said. Single taxpayers received $250 back from the state last year, and families got $500 back. The state also will be doing a property tax relief grant, which will be about $500 a household, he said.

The state also has now set records for early voting, and Kemp took issue with the charges that he has made it more difficult for voters to cast a ballot in the state.

“Two years ago, when the media was attacking me and Stacey Abrams was attacking me and the president was attacking me, and Major League Baseball was attacking me, I knew then what I know now — that in Georgia, it’s easy to vote and hard to cheat,” he said. “And that’s another reason people are going to vote for me. They may not like every single position, but at least I have been honest and politicians like Stacey Abrams and Joe Biden have not.”

Kemp also pointed to the creation of a crime suppression unit that has helped in the cities, while Abrams has pushed for defunding the police and ending cash bail.

“My message is, who is fighting for you?” he said. “We’re doing that.”

Recent Abrams’ campaign commercials have said Kemp’s position on abortion also includes the potential for parents to be charged with a crime with a miscarriage. Kemp said that allegation is off base.

“That’s just simply not true,” he said. “Abrams is attacking and lying about my record because she does not want to talk about hers.”