With no Abrams concession, Kemp presses forward in Georgia

ATLANTA (AP) — Republican Brian Kemp is behaving like he’s the next governor of Georgia, even though his Democratic rival Stacey Abrams insists there are votes left to count.

With a clear-but-narrow lead in unofficial returns, Kemp on Thursday stepped down as secretary of state.

He said he was turning his attention to his next job, but he’s also been under intense criticism for how he’s handled his own election so far.

The secretary of state’s office says there are fewer than 22,000 provisional ballots left to count. That would not enough to force a December runoff.

The Abrams campaign says there could be more pending votes, and they are using litigation to find out. They say the office Kemp ran until Thursday hasn’t been forthcoming enough about the details.