On Thursday, the steady stream of news around Donald Trump’s delusions of victory in the presidential race was punctuated by a report that Democrat Stacey Abrams is likely to run for governor of Georgia a second time. Abrams, a former minority leader in the state’s House of Representatives, has received an outpouring of support and increased visibility in recent days, after her years of organizing against voter suppression helped usher in a Biden victory in the reliably red state. Speaking to the Daily Beast, Wendy Davis, a Democratic National Committee member who is on the executive committee of the Georgia Democratic Party, said, “Stacey Abrams intends to run for governor again. I think that is a secret to no one.”
Another source told the outlet that Abrams is “indeed” considering another gubernatorial run, but noted that her work with voting rights organization Fair Fight is her primary focus at the moment. DuBose Porter, an Abrams ally in Georgia, told the Beast that, “in my opinion, she would like to be governor of Georgia. Stacey Abrams is about getting the work done.”
Abrams narrowly lost in a much-scrutinized 2018 election race against current governor Brian Kemp, who was then Georgia’s secretary of State. Kemp was accused of voter suppression and purging thousands of names from the voter rolls. In a recent appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Abrams said her loss was the push that propelled her to organize even more forcefully around the issue of voting rights. “[Kemp] was a galvanizing force for the intensity of my efforts this time,” she told Stephen Colbert.
All eyes are now focused on Georgia, where the two upcoming runoff races pitting Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock against David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, respectively, will determine which party will control of the Senate. As my colleague Abigail Tracy noted, Democrats were hoping that a blue wave would allow them to flip enough Senate seats to cinch a majority under President-elect Joe Biden. That failed to materialize, so Democrats’ hopes are now pinned to Georgia, where Abrams and other organizers helped mobilize a powerful voting machine. Regarding her 2022 run, a spokesperson for Abrams told the Beast, “Leader Abrams has made no decisions about her political future and is solely focused on electing Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock on January 5.”
More Great Stories From Vanity Fair
— The 10 Moments When Trump Lost the 2020 Election
— Trump’s Plans to Barricade Himself in the Oval Office
— Joe Biden’s Campaign Manager Told the Political Future—And Was Right
— Republicans Are Standing by Trump, Even as the World Moves On
— A Vigil With Donald Trump’s Ghosts
— Kayleigh McEnany: White House Press Secretary and Donald Trump’s Election Cheerleader
— Cover Story: AOC’s Next Four Years
— From the Archive: Presidential Club Rules and Why Trump Will Be Left Out of the Fraternity
— Not a subscriber? Join Vanity Fair to receive full access to VF.com and the complete online archive now.