*By Conor White*
The race for governor in Georgia is getting ugly in its final days, with accusations of voter suppression and racism tainting the finale of what could prove to be a historic race.
If Democrat Stacey Abrams claims the seat next week, she'll become the first African American woman in history to do so. She is virtually deadlocked against Republican Brian Kemp as the two enter into the final weekend of the campaign.
Kemp ー Abrams' rival and the sitting Georgia Secretary of State ー has been accused by Abrams and various voting rights groups of attempting to suppress voters and influence the election. [An Associated Press report revealed](http://time.com/5421332/georgia-brian-kemp-secretary-of-state-53000-voters-governor/) that more than 53,000 voter registration applications are on hold with the Georgia Secretary of State for failing to meet certain strenuous application requirements. Of those suspended applications, 70 percent belong to black voters.
While they should be able to cast their ballots if they go to their polling places with a valid ID, many are not aware of that reality, explained Washington Post political reporter Eugene Scott.
"If all they've heard is that their registrations have not been approved, many of them may just stay home, and many of them, disproportionately, were more likely to vote for Stacey Abrams."
Abrams is bringing in some big names for one last push, enlisting the help of former President Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey. Kemp is getting help from Vice President Mike Pence. In a race as close as this, candidates need all the endorsements they can get.
"That's where Barack Obama and people like Oprah can help out," Michael Harriot, columnist at The Root said in an interview Friday on Cheddar.
"They can help sway those undecided voters," he added.
President Trump has made his thoughts on the race known, calling Abrams "unqualified." Abrams is a Yale law school graduate, and served as Minority Leader for Georgia's General Assembly.
"It seems like the president's only qualification of what he deems 'qualifications' seems to be the color of (someone's) skin," explained Harriot.
According to Scott, whichever candidate wins will help usher in a new age in the region.
"This is a race rooted in identity politics, and conversations about what the future of the New South will look like."
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced Thursday that the U.S. is investing more than $100 million in the Caribbean region to crack down on weapons trafficking, help alleviate Haiti’s humanitarian crisis and support climate change initiatives.
At Cleveland's Urban Kutz Barbershop, customers can flip through magazines as they wait, or help themselves to drug screening tests left out in a box on a table with a somber message: “Your drugs could contain fentanyl. Please take free test strips.”
President Joe Biden on Thursday condemned a wave of “cruel” and “callous” state legislation curbing the rights, visibility and health care access of LGBTQ+ people, while causing the community to feel under attack for being who they are.
Pat Robertson, a religious broadcaster who turned a tiny Virginia station into the global Christian Broadcasting Network, tried a run for president and helped make religion central to Republican Party politics in America through his Christian Coalition, has died. He was 93.
The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a surprising 5-4 ruling in favor of Black voters in a congressional redistricting case, ordering the creation of a second district with a large Black population.
Mike Pence opened his presidential bid with an unusually forceful critique of former President Donald Trump over Jan. 6, his temperament and abortion on Wednesday as he became the first vice president in modern history to challenge his former running mate.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wasted no time going after Donald Trump while launching his presidential campaign on Tuesday, calling the former president and current Republican primary front-runner a “lonely, self-consumed, self-serving mirror hog" and arguing that he's the only one who can stop him.
Saying gender identity is real, a federal judge temporarily blocked portions of a new Florida law that bans transgender minors from receiving puberty blockers, ruling Tuesday that the state has no rational basis for denying patients treatment.
With concerns about misinformation spreading online, European Union officials want to more closely regulate artificial intelligence, and they're asking the world's biggest tech companies for help.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden, Ed Markey, and Mazie Hirono sent a letter to top officials at Twitter expressing their concerns over the platform's privacy policy.
