Stacey Abrams Seeks National Voting Rights Action Before 2022 Race
Stacey Abrams is gearing up for a second run at becoming governor of Georgia, but first, she wants Congress to get serious about federal voting rules.
During an interview on Thursday (Dec.16) with The Associated Press, the southern politician pressed the importance of passing laws that would protect Americans’ right to vote.
“Starting in January, when legislators come back into session in 2022, we’re going to see a maelstrom of voter suppression laws,” the 48-year-old began. “I understand the resistance to completely dismantling the filibuster. But I do believe there’s a way to restore the Senate to a working body so that things like defending democracy can actually take place.”
Abrams said that although she strongly believes her state has the potential to achieve great things, there’s still much more work left to do.
“This is a state that is on the cusp of greatness. But we have high-income inequality; we have low graduation rates relative to our capacity; we have a broken public health infrastructure system,” the Yale Law graduate explained. “But we also have the ability, if we had good leadership, to invest in our communities, in all of our communities across the state.”
Even without a law change, Abrams said she could still win next year’s election. “I will do everything in my power to make certain that these new onerous voter suppression laws do not effectively block voters from their right to vote,” she said. “And so yes, there’s absolutely a pathway to win.”
In 2018, Abrams narrowly lost to Republican Brain Kemp after the former secretary of state won the gubernatorial election contest by 54,723 votes. Abram’s loss came on the heels of a history-making moment, becoming the first Black woman ever to become a major party’s nominee for governor. The politician has often claimed that Kemp used his former position to alter the race’s turnout. Kemp has since denied any wrongdoing.
