Stacey Abrams cited lack of interest in the job of being a senator when she announced Monday that she would not challenge vulnerable Sen. David Perdue, D-Ga., in 2020. But the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial candidate has not been shy about her political ambitions, and analysts suspect that she ruled out a Senate run so she can position herself for something better rather than risking another statewide loss.
The former Georgia state representative shot to stardom after narrowly losing her 2018 bid for governor to Republican Brian Kemp. She delivered the Democratic response to President Trump’s 2019 State of the Union address in February and has gone to work building a network of Democratic support, even meeting with former Vice President Joe Biden in March.
After Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tried to convince Abrams to run for Senate in 2020, she took her time in announcing whether she would challenge Purdue — first saying that she would decide by the end of March, then the end of April. On the last day of the month, Abrams revealed her decision.
“The fights to be waged require a deep commitment to the job, and I do not see the U.S. Senate as the best role for me in this battle for the nation’s future,” she said in a video posted to Twitter.
Atlanta-based Republican strategist Jullianne Thompson told the Washington Examiner that she thought Abrams “saw the writing on the wall” that Perdue would be reelected in 2020, noting his popularity in the state.
A Morning Consult poll from the first quarter of 2019 found that Perdue had a 47% approval and 25% disapproval in Georgia — a higher approval rating than most other sitting senators and senators considered vulnerable in 2020. Still, the race is expected to be tough for Perdue.
“Abrams came out of that [2018 gubernatorial] loss looking good among Democrats, but I think she realizes that a second loss would jeopardize her career, and she didn’t seem keen to risk it in order to run for a job she didn’t seem to covet,” Kyle Kondik, the managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, told the Washington Examiner. “She can bide her time until the next opportunity comes along.”
A source familiar with Abrams’ thinking disputed the notion that she thought she would lose to Perdue in 2020.
[Opinion: Rising Democratic star Stacey Abrams, still the sorest loser in American politics]
“She could have defeated David Perdue, as can another Democrat. In 2018, she came closer than any Democrat in a generation to winning at the top of the ticket,” the source said.
Abrams still has plenty of options. She has not ruled out jumping into the crowded Democratic presidential field, joining the eventual Democratic presidential nominee as the vice presidential candidate on the ticket, or running for governor again in 2022.
The longer Abrams delays announcing a 2020 decision, the longer she stays in the national conversation — a point she acknowledged in a New York Times Magazine interview published Monday.
“It was important to me to not dismiss the calls for me to think about running, especially based on my race and gender and region, because the way I was being dismissed was largely driven by my profile,” Abrams said.
Georgia Democratic strategist Tharon Johnson told the Washington Examiner that he would be surprised of Abrams announces a 2020 presidential bid, “not because she wouldn’t be competitive or eminently qualified, but because she knows her time is more valuable than spending a year in a knock-down, drag-out primary away from her home state.”
Another Democratic strategist in Georgia, Howard Franklin, said he believes Abrams is “gearing up for another run at governor in 2022.”
Abrams could also take a job in a Democratic presidential administration should Trump lose in 2020. In the meantime, she says she will focus her attention on combating voter suppression in Georgia and around the country.
“I don’t expect Tuesday’s announcement will diminish the amount of attention she receives or her enthusiasm for electing Democrats up and down the ticket,” Franklin said.
