Brian Kemp has resigned from his role as secretary of state.
Kemp, who appears to have run successfully as governor, tendered his resignation to Gov. Nathan Deal this morning.
The secretary of State’s office has named Robyn A. Crittenden to serve as the new Secretary of State until January, when a new secretary of state will be sworn in. That race, between republican Brad Raffensperger and democrat John Barrow has been pushed to a runoff next month.
“We deeply appreciate Brian Kemp’s public service as Secretary of State. We will continue our work in this office on behalf of all Georgians. We are excited to welcome Robyn A. Crittenden to the agency to serve as our Secretary of State,” said Lorri Smith, Assistant Deputy Secretary of State and Chief Operating Officer.
While Kemp has declared victory in the governor’s race, his opponent Stacey Abrams has yet to concede. Representatives from the Abrams camp say they believe there are additional votes to be counted and those additional votes could push the race to a runoff.
If Abrams is right, Kemp would not be overseeing the runoff for the governor’s race.
Democrats have been calling on Kemp to resign as secretary of state for months claiming it is unfair for him to oversee the office that runs the elections and handles the vote counting for a race in which he is also a candidate.
The resignation does not appear to be motivated by concerns about a runoff or calls for his resignation. The Kemp campaign said yesterday that the candidate would begin his transition period to the office of governor Thursday.
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