Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams told a crowd on Wednesday that “we won” the race, which resulted in Republican Brian Kemp becoming the state’s governor, through identity politics.
“The notion of identity politics has been peddled for the last 10 years, and it’s been used as a dog whistle to say that we shouldn’t pay too much attention to the new voices coming into progress,” Abrams said at the CAP Ideas Conference, put on by liberal think tank Center for American Progress.
“I would argue that identity politics is exactly who we are and it’s exactly how we won. By centering communities in Georgia, we not only increased voter participation, we brought new folks to the process,” she said.
Abrams said if politicians do not engage in identity politics, then voters will feel alienated because they will see it as them refusing to acknowledge the barriers marginalized people face on a daily basis.
Abrams lost the 2018 gubernatorial race to Kemp by about 55,000 votes, according to the New York Times.
