Brian Kemp faces Stacey Abrams in race to be Georgia's next governor

It will arguably be the closest watched gubernatorial race in the United States this election year. Georgia's Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp is about to take on Democratic state representative Stacey Abrams.

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Kemp won a bruising Republican runoff in the race for Georgia governor, leveraging a damning secret recording of his opponent and a late Trump-Pence endorsement.

Cagle's campaign was rocked by a secret recording in which he says he helped pass a "bad public-policy" bill for political gain.

Gov. Nathan Deal and the National Rifle Association supported Cagle. But Kemp was boosted by the president's endorsement.

RELATED: Runoff recap

Shortly after Cagle's announcement Deal took to Twitter to congratulate Kemp on his victory, saying that "both he and Casey Cagle ran passionate, hard-fought campaigns" and that "it's time to unite behind Brian."

With Tuesday's win against Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, Kemp faces Democrat Stacey Abrams. She could become the country's first black woman governor.

The race will test Democrats' assertion that changing demographics have turned the Republican stronghold into a swing state.

Abrams responded to his victory in the runoff by tweeting "Tonight, I have an opponent: Kemp."

RELATED: Trump-backed candidate Kemp wins Georgia GOP governor runoff

The Associated Press contributed to this report