During Gov. Brian Kemp’s inauguration on Jan. 14 2019 on the Georgia Tech campus he seemed to shift his entire persona and message platform from the campaign trail. During his inauguration address, Gov. Kemp attempted to unify a divided population that he took a large part in creating.

During the campaign, Kemp rose to internet stardom by proclaiming that he was a “politically incorrect conservative” and if you didn’t like that then you shouldn’t vote for him. This divisive rhetoric that was a cornerstone of Kemp’s campaign was nowhere to be found at his inauguration.

Instead, Kemp praised unity and promised to fight for all Georgians, including the ones who voted for his opponent: Democrat Stacey Abrams. Kemp seemed to echo the sentiment given by outgoing governor, Nathan Deal, choosing to focus on education reform and small businesses, contrary to some of his campaign promises.

This shifting of political gears towards a moderate approach could be spurred by a transition of the Georgia state legislature as Democrats reclaimed 13 general assembly seats, primarily in metro-Atlanta districts that had solidly been in Republicans favor.

This could prove costly towards his upcoming administration as the Democratic Party of Georgia was remaining steadfast in their rebuttal of Kemp. During his inauguration, Democrats consistently called him out as the ‘Asterisk Governor’ due to allegations of voter fraud that occurred while Kemp was Secretary of State.

Kemp will certainly have a bumpy road ahead of him in 2019 as it doesn’t seem like many people, if any, are falling for his statement of proclaimed unity that deeply contrasts with what he stood for on the campaign trail.