Failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams appears to be trying to compete with perennial Texas candidate Beto O’Rourke to see who can rack up the most losses. Currently, O’Rourke is leading Abrams by one loss, but the Georgian recently announced that she might catch up to her fellow Democrat. Abrams revealed that she would once again run to be the governor of the Peach State. With this latest revelation about her campaign, she might just give O’Rourke a run for his money.
Stacey Abrams to Run Again
Abrams announced her intention to take another stab at the governor’s mansion during an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show. During the episode, the former actress asked the candidate: “So what’s next? Are you gonna run again? Do we get to look forward to this and galvanize again?”
“I will likely run again,” Abrams replied to thunderous applause. The former candidate said she did not know when she would seek the office but explained the lessons she learned after running twice. “Well, if at first, you don’t succeed, try, try again,” Abrams said, “and if it doesn’t work, you try again. But this issue is, what did you learn? Did you learn about yourself? What did you learn about your opponent and making sure you’re always remembering why you’re doing it.”
She went on to highlight her ongoing efforts to register voters and fight for voting rights:
“Part of my job, I run for office yes, but my first responsibility is to make sure anyone who wants to vote can, who is eligible. I want you to vote for me when you get in there, but protecting democracy is not about a person. It’s about the ideal. Our democracy is this collective hallucination we have where we say we’re going to work together to help each other and if anyone blinks and comes out of it like the Matrix, it starts to fall apart. That’s why it’s so vital that regardless of who you vote for, your voice matters because your silence is also permission.”
“We have to remember the reason that voting was denied to so many for so long, women, people of color, young people, non-property owners, every time we advance access to the vote, we’re advancing access to society,” Abrams added.
Stacey Abrams (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Stacey Abrams’ Baggage
If Stacey Abrams does decide to throw her hat in the ring for a three-peat, she might have some serious explaining to do when it comes to her nonprofit organization. Fair Fight Action, which Abrams founded in 2018, is reportedly in hot water after a failed lawsuit against Georgia over its voting laws.
The suit alleged that the state’s election integrity laws that were in effect between 2018 and 2020 were discriminatory. The organization claimed the state’s “exact match” registration policy and absentee ballot cancelation practices caused problems, especially for black voters. However, US District Judge Steve Jones ruled against Fair Fight Action on all counts in September after finding that the state’s election system, while flawed, did not violate the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in its elections.
As a result, the nonprofit has been ordered to pay over $231,000. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported:
“The costs include nearly $193,000 for trial and deposition transcripts and over $38,000 for copies of thousands of exhibits the state used in the four-year case that started after Democrat Stacey Abrams’ loss to Republican Brian Kemp in the 2018 race for governor.”
But that’s not all. In October, Politico published a report detailing how Abrams’ organization was getting funny with the money. The author explained how Fair Fight Action “spent more than $25 million over two years on legal fees, mostly on a single case, with the largest amount going to the self-described boutique law firm of the candidate’s campaign chairwoman.”
The campaign staffer in question also happened to be a close friend of Abrams.
Of course, if and when Abrams decides to mount another challenge for Georgia governor, the media will likely pretend these issues do not exist. But the fact that she received less support in this past campaign than in 2018 does not bode well for the future candidate.
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