Who is Stacey Abrams? | The Sun
STACEY Abrams in the running for re-election in the election for Georgia governor in 2022.
Abrams previously served as the Georgia State Representative from 2007 to 2017.
Who is Stacey Abrams?
Stacey Abrams is a voting rights activist and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate from Gulfport, Mississippi.
She grew up in a family of six children and her parents struggled to make ends meet.
When she was 15 years old, her parents moved the family to Atlanta, Georgia, and enrolled her at Emory University's Candler School of Theology.
She graduated as valedictorian in high school in 1991 and received an invitation to meet the governor of Georgia.
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Speaking about the significance the event had on her life, Abrams told CBS in 2019: "My parents and I arrived on the MARTA bus, because we didn’t have a car.
"We go up the driveway of the governor’s mansion. We get to the guard gate, and the guard stops us and tells us we don’t belong there, that it’s a private event. My dad says, 'No, this is my daughter, Stacey. We have an invitation.'
"But the guard doesn’t ask for my invitation that my mom has. And I remember watching him watch the bus pull off.
"And if my mother had not had my arm in a death grip, I would have been back on that bus."
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The importance of that moment taught her about the place she holds in the world.
Abrams said: "I think two things happened that day. One, they were not going to let me be denied this honor that I’d achieved.
"But two, I think they wanted me to see my responsibility is to not let someone else tell me who I am and where I belong."
Abrams went on to graduate from Yale Law School and in 2007 she won the seat as a Democrat in the Georgia Assembly.
While in the role, she became the first female minority leader of the Democratic party.
She held the position until 2017 and a year later, she ran for governor against Brian Kemp and lost by only two percentage points.
Aside from her political pursuits, Abrams has also authored a number of books including Our Time Is Now, Lead From The Outside, and several romantic suspense novels under the pen name Selena Montgomery.
Is Stacy Abrams running for governor?
Abrams announced her bid for governor in December 2021, and will once again be going head-to-head against Kemp.
She lost by 1.4 points in the 2018 election, but she is optimistic about being elected after Georgia voted blue in the 2020 presidential election.
The new bid for governor follows Abrams' refusal to concede when Kemp won the 2018 election for governor.
The Brennan Center for Justice reported at the time that Kemp allegedly purged 1.5million voters from the election roles while he was Secretary of State.
Kemp claimed he was eliminating the ineligible voters for the integrity of the election, but Abrams claimed that by doing that, he stole the election.
After her loss, Abrams spoke in what would have been a concession speech, saying: “So, let’s be clear – this is not a speech of concession, because concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true or proper.
“As a woman of conscience and faith, I cannot concede that. But, my assessment is the law currently allows no further viable remedy.”
Abrams pushed back and started Fair Fight – a voter registration group.
The group is believed to have been a key component in President Joe Biden winning Georgia in the 2020 election.
Abrams said her reasoning in part for running again for governor is to bring together a divided Georgia.
Alongside her announcement video, Abrams wrote on Twitter: "I’m running for Governor because opportunity in our state shouldn’t be determined by zip code, background, or access to power."
Kemp has pushed back against Abrams, saying the election in November “is a battle for the soul of our state.”
“I’m in the fight against Stacey Abrams, the failed Biden agenda, and their woke allies to keep Georgia the best place to live, work, and raise a family,” Kemp added.
But in her video, Abrams says: “That’s the job of governor – to fight for one Georgia, our Georgia. And now, it is time to get the job done.”
What is Fair Fight?
Abrams launched Fair Fight in an effort to promote fair elections in Georgia and around the country.
Fair Fight works to encourage voter participation in elections and to educate voters about their voting rights.
After she lost the 2018 governor election, Abrams started the organization which filed a lawsuit aimed at reforming Georgia's electoral process.
Fair Fight's website says: "Voter suppression of voters of color and young voters is a scourge our country faces in states across the nation."
Abrams said the majority of people in the US don't have to think about how they'll vote or when they can vote, saying it comes down to minority groups who are directly hindered by the voting process.
"When you have never spent more than seven minutes in line, it is nearly impossible to imagine that there are poor Black people who stand in line for eight hours, miss an entire day's wages, risk losing their jobs simply to cast a ballot in an election that may or may not have any benefit in their lives," Abrams told CBS.
Abrams' goal to expand voting rights and omit voter suppression is one step further toward her end goal. Running for president.
Abrams told CBS she "absolutely" holds running for president as an ambition saying it is also her "responsibility" to tell people "yes."
"And even more importantly, when someone asks me if that's my ambition, I have a responsibility to say yes, for every young woman, every person of color, every young person of color, who sees me and decides what they're capable of based on what I think I am capable of," Abrams said.
She added: "Again, it's about you cannot have those things you refuse to dream of."
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