January 7, 2020: Millions of people kept their eyes glued to the television anxiously waiting for the 2020 United States presidential election results this past November. As many of us became frustrated and impatient while election workers counted ballots, Democratic politician Stacey Abrams kept busy by telling her followers and supporters to “stay calm and be patient.” When President-Elect Joe Biden’s win made headlines, the Minority Leader author turned to the next order of business: the fight to elect Jon Ossoff and Senator-Elect Reverend Warnock to the US Senate.
On January 6, the Georgia state House’s former minority leader watched her hard work and the hard work of her fellow organizers come to fruition as Democrats won the Senate majority of the Georgia Senate Runoff Election. US Senator-Elects Reverend Warnock celebrated the victory, as did the now internationally famed political rights activist. Abrams congratulates both elects on Instagram, citing her enthusiasm to witness the great impact they will soon have on the nation.
US Senator-Elects Reverend Warnock and Jon Ossoff.
Abrams’ unshakeable determination is partly due to her narrow Georgia gubernatorial loss to Republican and then Secretary-of-State Brian Kemp in 2018. Kemp faced multiple accusations of minority voter suppression, but he has denied the allegations. In Abrams’ concession speech, she said:
To watch an elected official—who claims to represent the people of this state, baldly pin his hopes for election on the suppression of the people’s democratic right to vote—has been truly appalling. So, to be clear, this is not a speech of concession.
But this moment is not about Kemp; it’s about Abrams. In the wake of Kemp’s win, the Mississippi native made it her mission to fight for fairer elections and curb voter suppression of minorities. Abrams launched the Fair Fight organization to promote fair elections in Georgia and all around the country. With the help of organizations like the New Georgia Project (which she founded in 2014) and numerous minority voting rights groups working to register new voters, she successfully contributed to registering 800,000 new voters in Georgia. In an interview with NPR, she said, “Of those numbers, what we are excited about is that 45 percent of those new voters are under the age of 30. Forty-nine percent are people of color.”
So what’s next? According to a report from The Daily Beast, Abrams plans to run against Kemp again in 2022. “Stacey Abrams intends to run for governor again,” said Wendy Davis, who is on the Georgia Democratic Party’s executive committee. “I think that is a secret to no one.” A win would make the entrepreneur the first Black female governor in the nation’s history.
Nevertheless, Abrams hasn’t officially confirmed that she will run. In an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the television host asked if she plans on running for governor in 2022, and Abrams joked, “I’m sorry, I can’t see that far, I don’t have my glasses on.” She’s reticent to disclose any further, but Democrats expect her to run—and win. After that, we fully expect her to run for president one day. During an appearance on ABC’s The View in February 2020. She said:
“Why should we not want someone to have the power to fix the problems and the brokenness that we have? I want to do good, and there is no stronger platform than president of the United States. And that’s a position I want to one day hold.”
Abrams’ unwavering commitment to change will undoubtedly shape our nation’s future to better the lives of all Americans. In the immediate future, it’s time we give her our absolute full attention.
