Laws enacted on abortion, climate change, and other topics that defy public opinion can’t be countered with an overflow of Democratic presidential candidates, Democratic star Stacey Abrams said Wednesday.
Abrams, the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial nominee, who narrowly lost to Republican Brian Kemp, has suggested she’s considering a bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. But at the Center for American Progress’ 2019 Ideas Conference in Washington, D.C., Abrams said she had no announcement.
Abrams, who founded voter rights organization Fair Fight Action after her defeat, urged Democrats to embrace identity politics because “it’s how we won” in the Peach State.
“I do recognize I am not the governor of Georgia,” she said, referring to her sustained complaints over voting logistics put in place by Kemp, in his prior role as secretary of state. “But I do like to point out something that is true for me and for many in our state: and that is we won. We won by transforming an electorate we were told was stagnant.”
“We also have to bring new voices to the table,” the Yale-educated lawyer, who in February became the first black woman to offer a State of the Union rebuttal. “The internal threat that we face can only be fought back by making sure we have candidates running for office who see everyone, who understand all of us, and who are willing to do the work standing at podiums but also standing in the streets and pushing people to vote.”
[Also read: Abrams decision to forgo Senate race positions Trump to win in Georgia]
