During a recent interview, Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams was asked why she wants to run for governor. After all, she is an accomplished tax attorney specializing in nonprofit organizations who was appointed as Atlanta’s deputy city attorney before she was 30. She has also written eight romance novels under the pen name Selena Montgomery. She is a rising star in the Democratic Party and has been recognized nationally for her political accomplishments. She could easily have her choice of any job.
But serving others is a value deeply instilled in Abrams by her parents, and she believes that people deserve to live free of poverty so that they can reach their full potential. It is for these reasons, and more, that Daily Kos is pleased to endorse her for governor.
Abrams had this to say about why she’s running:
“I am offended by poverty. I think it is immoral and its economically inefficient […] Where we forget power lies is in the governor’s mansion. The governor’s office leads the conversation, especially in Georgia, about where revenue comes from and how it's spent, which cities get what they need, and they are the intercessor between federal government and local government. But on a more specific level, for me, I want children to be bold and ambitious and educated. I want families to be able to live where they want and have jobs where they are that pay them a living wage. And I want an engaged citizenry that owns their government and doesn’t wait for someone to tell them what they can do and what they can have.”
Abrams has held public office since 2006, when she was first elected to the state House of Representatives. Democrats were in a precarious position then, having lost control of the House, Senate, and governorship in the preceding years. But this, coupled with being a minority as a black woman, steeled her for the fights that would lie ahead. In 2011, when she became the House minority leader, she also became the first-ever woman and person of color to hold the office.
In this role, she organized the Democratic caucus and led the fight against Republicans over the preservation of education funding, voting rights, and their attempts to create terrible tax policies that would disproportionately impact low- and middle-income families. Protecting Georgia’s families means a great deal to Abrams and is a guiding principle in how she leads. She says that one of the things she’s most proud of is her work on kinship care, which has provided funding and support for grandparents and other people raising children that are not their own in order to keep them out of foster care.
As the founder of the New Georgia Project, Abrams had the insight to see that moving the state forward and putting Democrats in power requires organizing what activist Steve Phillips has called the New American Majority—people of color, young people between the ages of 18 to 29, and unmarried women—and getting them to vote and civically engage. To that end, these efforts have resulted in registering more than 200,000 people of color to vote in the last two years and the protection of three weeks of early voting.
She has accomplished this while simultaneously strengthening the leadership and representation of Democrats across the state. In the Georgia House, she has led efforts to pick up six seats for Democrats in GOP-leaning districts to break a Republican supermajority, allowing Democrats to work on legislation that is sensible and works to protect the poor, women, and people of color. It has also meant that she has helped to create one of the most diverse Democratic caucuses in the South, with members who are black, white, Latino, Asian, and who represent the largest LGBTQ membership in the region.
“To be governor— it's about being an executive, but it’s also about knowing how to navigate in the space of business. It’s about knowing how to talk to legislators and negotiate. But it’s also about how to engage the non-profit space—to reach those places where government and where business fails. And I know how to do those things, because I’ve done those things.”
For many of us, the state of Georgia evokes old images of the Deep South—the land of Gone With the Wind, complete with a long history of racial inequality and a population that is mostly either black or white. But as those who live there can attest, the state is rapidly changing. By 2025, Georgia is on track to become majority-minority, which means that it will be just the second state in the South (Texas being the first) to be mostly people of color. This offers Democrats an important opportunity both in terms of investing in the leadership of people of color and building a solid base of multiethnic, multiracial voters who can turn the state blue.
Abrams is well aware that Democrats in the state, and nationwide, have often ignored the base while relying on appeals to Republican-leaning white voters in an attempt to get more votes. But this is an unrequited love that hasn’t worked to our advantage. Despite 12 years of campaigns spending to target these voters, Democrats in Georgia have consistently earned no more than 23 percent of the white vote. Why keep doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for a different result?
The state is changing. If Democrats want to win, we must embrace the change, engage our base, and articulate a compelling vision of an inclusive country in which everyone can thrive. Abrams believes that she can do just that. She has a long history of advocacy on behalf of the most vulnerable communities in the state and working to build Democratic power in the state.
“This is a people-powered campaign. If I’m elected, I will be the first black woman in the history of America to become the executive of a state.”
This campaign will inevitably highlight issues of race. After all, it is Georgia—and decades ago, the idea of electing a black woman to the state’s highest office would have been unthinkable. But in spite of the country's persistent struggles in eradicating racism and white supremacy, it is impossible to deny that times have changed. Stacey Abrams has the potential to usher in a new era in the Democratic Party, in Georgia and in the United States, one that is diverse and fully reflective of our country’s demographics and the demographics of our base. She is a consistent champion of the most marginalized, with a clear vision for creating a government that works for all people. It is time to invest in new leadership and new ideas and Abrams is the candidate who can help Democrats tap into Georgia’s potential and create a better future.
Please donate $3 today to help elect Stacey Abrams as Georgia’s first black woman governor and turn the state blue!
