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How a failed gubernatorial candidate Joe Biden achieved a likely victory in the Republican stronghold of Georgia and thus became the heroine of the Democrats.
Tax attorney, novelist, and suffrage activist: Stacey Abrams.
Two years ago, she would have liked to become the first black female governor of the United States, but she lost the election very closely. She would have loved to be Joe Biden’s vice president, but Kamala Harris was elected. Stacey Abrams, 46, ambitious, has suffered several defeats in recent years. However, he is currently one of the great figures of the Democratic Party.
Prominent party officials, Hillary Clinton, for example, lauded Abrams with praise. For the first time since 1992, the Democratic presidential candidate has likely won Georgia, and that would hardly have been possible without Stacey Abrams. Abrams has built a network of organizations in recent years that helped re-register 800,000 voters. Joe Biden’s lead in Georgia is minimal, a good 14,000 votes, counting again. But for Abrams and the Democrats, the result is already a triumph.
Stacey Abrams served in the Georgia House of Representatives for ten years, including six as a Democratic leader. Now it is the most prominent criticism of “voter suppression” across the country, the attempt to make it difficult for certain population groups, mostly ethnic minorities, to participate in elections.
Voter Suppression is Common in Georgia
It is no accident that Stacey Abrams works in Georgia. The southern state is known for making voting difficult, especially for African Americans. In 2017, for example, authorities removed 670,000 voters who had not voted for seven years. 70 percent of them were black. In 2018, authorities blocked 53,000 records, in reference to a law that requires information on the electoral roll to match information on file with social security or motor vehicle authorities. A missing dash can be enough to invalidate a record. There, too, more than two-thirds of those affected were African-American.
The person in charge was called Brian Kemp, he was Minister of the Interior and therefore responsible for conducting the elections. In 2018 he wanted to become governor. He refused to give up the ministerial position, for which he was a referee in a fight in which he participated. His opponent was named Stacey Abrams. Her candidacy received a lot of attention, she would have become the first black governor of the United States. Abrams narrowly lost, 55,000 votes behind, with nearly 4 million votes. Abrams was convinced that Kemp’s legal tricks had cost him victory. After the elections, he said it was shocking that someone who claims to represent the people has openly pinned his hopes on the suppression of democratic suffrage.
Abrams’ defeat had two consequences for Democrats: First, they were encouraged to win Georgia in future elections. Second, they were determined to counter voter suppression. Stacey Abrams himself took the initiative. In the same speech in which he bitterly criticized Kemp, he announced the creation of Fair Fight, an organization that would campaign for fair elections.
After the election, revelers chanted Abrams’ name.
Abrams raised tens of millions of dollars through Fair Fight to educate voters in Georgia and other states about their rights. She formed a coalition with other organizations that registered women voters, especially among blacks, Latinos, and people of Asian descent. Of the 800,000 new voters the Abrams network recruited in 2018, half are under the age of 30 and 45 percent are ethnic minorities. These are the demographic groups that Democrats see as an advantage going forward.
Stacey Abrams says demographics are not destiny, demographics are opportunity. That means: voters don’t come alone, you have to get them.
On November 3, the success with which Abrams had been announced became evident. Compared to 2016, more than a million people voted. After election night, Joe Biden was left behind, but in the days that followed, when the votes cast by letter were counted, his total vote grew ever closer to that of Donald Trump. Ultimately, Biden surpassed Trump.
When television stations and news agencies declared Biden the winner in Pennsylvania and thus the elections, thousands celebrated in the streets. Some, in Washington and New York, for example, chanted Stacey Abrams’ name.
Abrams himself appeared on numerous talk shows after Biden’s victory. She smiled broadly and made no secret of her satisfaction: if she had gotten the governor’s job, she joked, she would have been distracted. But after 2018, he somehow had to deal with it.
Abrams also writes romance novels.
Stacey Abrams’ resume doesn’t seem like she’s had a hard time keeping busy. She grew up the daughter of two Methodist pastors who were active in the civil rights movement. She attended the elite Yale University and later became a tax attorney. She also wrote eight romance novels under the pseudonym Selena Montgomery, the last one titled “Deception” was published in 2009. It is said that more than 100,000 copies of the novels have been sold so far; in recent days, sales have exploded again.
Abrams’s focus in the coming years is likely to remain on politics. Many expect her to run for governor again in 2022. And in the coming weeks she will use her well-oiled voting machine for the Democratic Senate candidates who will have to run again in early January. Runoff is extremely important, it decides how the small chamber is controlled. On Monday, Abrams announced that within a few days Raised $ 6 million for the election campaign. If he succeeds once again in wrestling Georgia from the Republicans, his status as a Democrat light figure is secure.
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