How Stacey Abrams is looking to win Georgia
by Cheyanne Daniels - 06/11/22 6:00 AM ET
When Stacey Abrams ran for governor of Georgia in 2018, she was relatively unknown. By 2020, though, her work in Georgia and for Democrats across the country made her a household name, in time for a second run.
Abrams ran unopposed in this year’s Democratic primaries. Now, she faces current Gov. Brian Kemp (R), whom she lost to by a narrow margin in 2018, in another contentious race. But this time, Abrams has an army of newly registered voters behind her.
In 2020, Abrams and a team of grassroots organizations registered more than 800,000 new voters, turning Georgia blue for the first time in decades and helping then former Vice President Joe Biden secure the presidency.
That mobilization will play greatly into Abrams’s chances to become the state’s first Black female governor, said Adrienne Jones, a Morehouse College assistant professor of political science and director of the historically Black college’s pre-law program. Now, Jones said, Abrams will need to grab the “multicultural vote” in higher numbers than she did in 2018.
“The GOP tends to have a lock on white voters, but the demographics in the state are changing,” Jones said. “So, [she’s] got to get some cross section of all of the groups.”
Four years ago, Abrams captured the majority of Black voters’ ballots in areas like Savannah, Atlanta and Augusta. This time around, Jones said, Abrams has to strengthen her support from LGBTQ+ voters, Asian voters and Latino voters.
“She’s going to have to … bring along some independent thinkers, as well as convince some non-traditional Democratic voters to show up in this election,” said Antjuan Seawright, founder and CEO of political consulting firm Blueprint Strategy.
That makeup would include rural white men, suburban white women and younger voters, Seawright added, a cross-section of voters some would see as a stretch for a Democratic candidate.
But the Democratic Governors Association has expressed confidence in Abrams getting those votes.
“She’s an energetic and dynamic candidate that is able to fire up the grassroots but at the same time also appeal to voters who are more in the middle because the issues that she’s talking about are things that impact everyone,” said Sam Newton, deputy communications director for the association.
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https://thehill.com/news/campaign/3519163-how-stacey-abrams-is-looking-to-win-georgia/
