Stacey Abrams appeared on ABC’s This Week this Sunday morning to chat with Martha Raddatz about the Georgia senate runoffs, President-elect Joe Biden, and how truly serious it is to challenge elections—and why what she did after her governor’s race is so very different from what the Republicans cozying up behind Donald Trump is fruitlessly trying to do with the presidential election.
First, Abrams discussed the current state of the Senate runoff elections between Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler and Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. Abrams explained that so far, Democrats have done very well in vote by mail, as well as early voting, but the job isn’t over yet. Why not? As Abrams put it, “we know Election Day is going to be the likely high-turnout day for Republicans, so we need Democrats who haven't cast their ballots to turn out.” Really, we should always be voting like it’s our individual vote that could break a tie, no matter what early polls suggest.
"They've crisscrossed the state and we believe we've closed that distance and that the voters that are turning out now absolutely know them and they're standing by their sides and voting for them," Abrams explained in reference to candidates Ossoff and Warnock.
Getting to know candidates, Abrams argued, makes a serious impact. Basically, while some Democrats may have voted for Biden in November, there’s an extra opportunity here to get both newly registered and already registered voters to vote for Ossoff and Warnock; some people may have voted only for Biden, for example, if they were unfamiliar with the Senate race a few months ago. This is why, according to Abrams, “we spent this time over the last nine weeks educating voters” about the two Democrats in the race.
Abrams also pointed out that the lack of help from Republicans amid the COVID-19 pandemic only helps Democrats in terms of voter turnout. People are frustrated, people need their $2,000 coronavirus relief stimulus checks, and … Republicans don’t do a thing, except block relief. And voters know that.
Raddatz told Abrams that some Republicans are insisting that Trump’s efforts to undermine the election are no different than Abrams’ refusal to concede the gubernatorial race in 2018. “Are you concerned about that reputation?” Raddatz asked.
“It’s apples and bowling balls,” Abrams said, noting that courts and state legislature agreed that a series of actions had been taken to impede voters’ ability to, well, vote, and Abrams pointed that out. "By contrast,” Abrams continued. “President Trump has lost every single one of his challenges in the state of Georgia and he has no evidence. An audit, the fourth, I think, of this election, found that there was zero fraud in our signature-match process. One person accidentally, or inadvertently, signed for her husband against the rules, but otherwise, we know that the signatures match and that the process works."
And, of course, why is the Senate runoff getting so much attention? If Democrats pull off a victory in both runoffs, we will get to 50 seats. This would then transition into a majority with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris breaking the tie on January 20. Obviously, it’s hugely important in terms of actually getting anything done under Biden’s presidency, but, if Senate Republicans (Perdue or Loeffler) win either seat, Republicans retain their majority. Hence the urgency to help Ossoff and Warnock win this January.
You can check out the full segment below, courtesy of YouTube.