Stacey Abrams, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate and rising-star Democrat, has finally addressed the circulating rumor regarding her plans for 2020. Abrams and former Vice President Joe Biden have met up. They chatted! Biden has also (yet again) considered running for the Democratic nomination. All of this adds up to people wondering: Will Abrams run on a Biden ticket?
For now, the answer is no.
As reported by The Hill, Abrams was at a Writers Bloc Presents event in Los Angeles, California, on Sunday when she clarified that “Vice President Biden and I had a lovely lunch. And we talked about food and we talked about, I mean, look, we talked about the presidency and what it means.” And that half of the quote is probably what sent some people into a tizzy. But then she kept speaking:
"We talked about whether I was thinking about running. We talked about whether he was thinking about running," Abrams continued. "But we did not have that conversation and everything else is pure speculation made up by somebody else."
Abrams was at the event to discuss her new book, Lead from the Outside, not Biden.
If you’ve been following coverage of these rumors, you might remember that Lauren Groh-Wargo, Abrams’ former campaign manager, has already corrected the running theory that a secret plan is underway. On Friday, she noted that Abrams “enjoyed meeting” with Biden. Then she explicitly stated that "there was no grand plan hatched and no additional conversations between the two of them or our teams since."
On Biden’s side, a representative also corrected the rumors via Twitter:
Potential plot twist? Groh-Wargo did say that Abrams was keeping "all options for herself on the table" and would meet with any presidential candidate (declared or potential) who reached out for a meeting.
Here’s the tweet:
Whether she’s on a 2020 ticket or not, it feels certain that Abrams will be an active and important person in politics for years to come. What do you think Abrams could bring to the table?