Stacey Abrams is all over social media today. It seems like everyone is sharing her photo and thanking her for helping turn the formerly red state of Georgia to blue, as it becomes possible that Joe Biden could take the state and become the next U.S. president.
So why are people thanking Abrams? Because in addition to being a passionate voting rights advocate, Abrams lost by a small margin — 55,000 votes — to Republican Brian Kemp when she ran for Georgia governor in the 2018 midterm election.
“Many felt that the race was stolen from her because of a dubious balloting process and allegations of voter suppression,’” BET reported. “She suspended her campaign without conceding, calling what happened an ‘erosion of our democracy.'”
Since then, Abrams has dedicated herself to work to ensure fair counting of votes in Georgia. Soon after her failed bid, she founded Fair Fight Action to address voter suppression with an eye on the 2020 political season.
“In the wake of the 2018 election,” Abrams told MTV News, “I had some time on my hands and, of course, as folks know, I really wanted to focus America’s attention on voter suppression, not just what happened in my election and to the voters in my state, but what was happening around the country.”
Abrams’ efforts are credited with causing a possible major change in voting in Georgia. In 2020, there was a record 7.6 million people on the voter rolls in the state. Abrams’s Fair Fight Action registered nearly 500,000 new voters — mostly millennials, Black people and people of color — raising more than $32 million in funding, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
“We’ve come close time and time again,” said Abrams, who was on Biden’s list of potential VP picks, on Election Day, Nov. 3. “Every time is a building block, and we’re building toward a blue wall in Georgia.”
An alumnus of HBCU Spelman College, Abrams was always involved in voters’ rights. Prior to founding Fair Fight Action, she helped in 2013 to found The New Georgia Project, which aims to register Black voters across the state.
If Georgia does indeed swing to blue, it will be the first time a majority of voters chose a Democrat president since 1992 when Bill Clinton secured the state.
This could help other Democrats to flip the power in Congress. Runoff races will take place Jan. 5 between GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock and between GOP Sen. David Perdue and Democrat Jon Ossoff.
“The influx of voters also helped secure wins for Rep. Lucy McBath and newly elected Nikema Williams, who will succeed the late John Lewis in Congress,” Madamenoire reported.
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 73: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin makes the case for why this is a multi-factor rebellion vs. just protests about George Floyd. He discusses the Democratic Party’s sneaky relationship with the police in cities and states under Dem control, and why Joe Biden is a cop and the Steve Jobs of mass incarceration.
Since 2018, Abrams said the number of Democrat voters has “been growing and growing … and now we’re grown! We are ready to be the blue state that we were meant to be,” Abrams told USA Today.
Twitter users called for Abrams to be the head of the Democratic National Committee.
One person tweeted, “I want Stacey Abrams as our next DNC chair. She knows how to build a ground game in GA let her build a national one for 2022 and beyond.”
Another said, “Georgia even being this close—less than a 39,000 vote difference—is a testament to the organizers in that state fighting voter suppression and registering new voters at every turn. I am in awe of what those activists, including Stacey Abrams, have done.”
“Stacey Abrams is amazing and I’m SO proud of Georgia! I never thought I’d see the day that Georgia would have a chance of turning blue!” another tweeted.
