How Stacey Abrams Paved the Way for a Democratic Victory in ‘New Georgia’
After Democrat Joe Biden was declared the next U.S. president on Saturday, thousands of celebrants massed outside the White House. One part of the group broke out in a spontaneous chant that wasn’t about Biden or his…
After Democrat Joe Biden was declared the next U.S. president on Saturday, thousands of celebrants massed outside the White House. One part of the group broke out in a spontaneous chant that wasn’t about Biden or his opponent Donald Trump, cheering: “Sta-CEY AAA-brams…..Sta-CEY AAA-brams.”
Stacey Abrams, 46, a lawyer, entrepreneur, romance novelist and Georgia politician, became a national Democratic figurehead after losing a hard-fought governor’s race in 2018 by just 55,000 votes. Now she is being lauded by Democrats, academics, voters and activists around the country for boosting Biden to victory.
Georgia last voted for a Democratic president in 1992, and Biden’s lead in the state, as the last ballots are being counted, is just 10,000 votes. While the state is headed to a recount, that isn’t expected to change the results dramatically.
Years of get-out-the-vote efforts spearheaded by Abrams and a legal onslaught against voter suppression from legions of community groups and activists, are behind the Democratic shift, experts say. Aiding these efforts are seismic changes in the formerly agrarian state’s population – it has grown by over 30% since 2000, as newcomers flocked in from out of state, including liberal whites and people of color.
“Stacey Abrams made it her business to go out and register people of color,” said Andra Gillespie, a professor of political science at Emory University. “She went out and registered thousands of people to vote and then created the tools to help remind them about the election process.”
Georgia’s 16 electoral votes aren’t the only prize. The Senate races in the state are so close that they’ll go to a run-off in January, and Democrats are going to pour resources into winning, Abrams said Sunday.
If Democrats win both races, they’ll control both houses of Congress, and the White House – and could usher in sweeping change on everything from income inequality to climate change in the world’s biggest economy.