On late Friday afternoon, the uncertainty surrounding the results of Georgia’s gubernatorial race effectively ended when Democrat Stacey Abrams gave a powerful non-concession speech in which she acknowledged that Republican Brian Kemp would likely be certified as the winner and the next governor-elect of the state.
Abrams did so reluctantly while making sure to call attention to Kemp’s “gross mismanagement” of the voting system as the Secretary of State—conveniently, purging voters from the rolls, holding up voter registration applications, withholding much-needed new voting machines from certain precincts and not counting provisional and absentee ballots overseeing a race where he was also a candidate.
As noted by AP, there was a time that refusing to concede would risk ire from both political parties and condemnation as a “sore loser.” But these are unusual times. By making voter suppression and the protection of voting rights the focus of her speech, Abrams brings awareness to what should be a nonpartisan issue—the right of eligible citizens to cast their ballot in free and fair elections and to have their votes counted.
Abrams cited a litany of problems that she said add up to systemic voter suppression. She specifically pointed to absentee ballots thrown out by what she called “the handwriting police,” a shortage of paper ballots to back up broken-down voting machines and Georgia’s so-called “exact match” voter registration rules that require information on voter applications to precisely match state and federal files.
In her speech, Abrams also announced the launch of a new, non-profit voting rights organization called “Fair Fight Georgia” which will file a federal lawsuit to force reform in the electoral process. To be clear, this is not a lawsuit where Abrams is challenging the specific results of the Georgia gubernatorial election. She admitted that there is no legal option that would give her a path to a runoff or a victory. And, in fact, on Saturday, the election results were officially certified— with Kemp leading Abrams by a total of 54,723 votes, a 1.4 percentage point advantage.
But it’s not over for Democrats in Georgia, yet. Democrat Carolyn Bourdeaux lost her race to Republican Rob Woodall for a seat in the US House of Representatives by 400 votes. Bourdeaux is requesting a recount. Additionally, there will be a runoff on December 4 for the secretary of state and public service commission races.
And Abrams herself isn’t done, either.
“My mission is to take a little bit of time to decompress, and then No. 1, file this lawsuit, get this organization off the ground, get a little bit of rest and then get to work figuring out what we can do to not only help Georgia but help the United States,” she told the AP.
This election loss is bittersweet to say the least. Brian Kemp worked for years to set up the infrastructure to steal this election. While Republicans learned that this is a strategy that works, Democrats have yet to do the work to address voter suppression all year round, all the time—not just during election season. It is a harsh reminder that even the best campaigning, base building and GOTV efforts are all for naught if people can’t actually vote. Democrats need to develop a multi-year, multi-approach strategy that works to fight voter suppression across the board because this will certainly be an issue in elections going forward.
At the same time, there is much to be proud of and learn from here. Stacey Abrams has changed what Democrats once thought was possible in the South. She had an effective strategy that relied on building a coalition of new voters, younger voters, people of color, progressive whites, and rural voters who had long been ignored by both parties. What she did is nothing short of incredible and the way that she inspired and mobilized millions across the country provides a model for Democratic candidates in the future. Abrams is a rising star in the Democratic Party and has a bright future ahead. We can rest assured that we haven’t seen the last of her and rightfully so. We need her and the kind of bold vision for a better future that she so passionately represented during her campaign for governor.