breaking news in the still contested georgia governor's race. republican brian kemp says he is now stepping down as georgia's secretary of state to begin his transition into the governor's office. >> this after voters filed a lawsuit to force kemp to recuse himself from that role, which part of that job is overseeing the election. cnn actually has not called the race. democrat stacey abrams is not conceding. let's go to nick valencia who joins us with more. you're in front of where they're going to hear, i guess, the first parts, arguments in this case. what do we know? >> well, we want to start with breaking news here. the hearing was scheduled for 9:45, and the lawsuit had to do with five georgians filing it, late election night. they were seeking working with the nonprofit group called protect democracy, what they were seeking was for a federal judge to strip brian kemp's powers as the secretary of state. in an unexpected announcement just before the hearing was supposed to get under way, the lawyers for the defense,