Stacey Abrams has become a household name in America overnight. She has blown up every national headline. Why? Because Abrams was just nominated as the Democratic candidate for the Georgia gubernatorial race in November. The former minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives will face the Republican nominee this fall, which will be the winner of a runoff in July between Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Secretary of State Brian Kemp.
This news is monumental and deserves to be shaking up every news source today. Not only would Abrams be the first woman elected governor of Georgia — she would also be the first African American elected governor of Georgia and the first Black woman to govern any state in the US.
Let that sink in.
Abrams would join the ranks of only a few other Black women elected at the state executive level — Jenean Hampton, the Republican lieutenant governor of Kentucky; Connecticut state Treasurer Denise Nappier; and New Jersey Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver. And while the current political climate is slightly favoring Democrats, Abrams will need her supporters to rally for her. #45 carried the state with 51% of the vote in the 2016 Presidential election.
“We’re not going to win trying to put together the old guard coalition,” Abrams said Wednesday. “We have a new opportunity because Georgia has changed dramatically in the last 15 years. And we know if we take advantage of that change, we can actually get to victory.”
So who exactly is Abrams, this glass ceiling shattering woman? She is someone who has promised to stay committed to the issues that matter to her, regardless of where others tell her votes will go. “I am very proud to only ever have gotten D’s and F’s from the NRA, the only bad grades my parents have ever been proud of,” she told CNN.
She is a staunch supporter of the LGBTQ community and has been since her college years at Spelman College in 1990. “One of my proudest moments was as SGA vice president authorizing that organization on campus,” Abrams told The Georgia Voice. “It came at a bit of a cost. I got phone calls and threats and had to have campus security for a while. But for me, the responsibility was to do what was right, not what was political.”
Abrams went on to graduate from Yale Law School, write romance novels and join a coalition to register and turn out more Black voters. While many are saying that Abrams being a Black woman is going to be a disservice in the polls — she affirms differently. “It [being a Black woman] is a strength. Because I could not be where I am had I not overcome so many other barriers. Which means you know I’m relentless, you know I’m persistent, and you know I’m smart,” she told Cosmopolitan.
The ways in which Abrams goes after what she wants — and what she sees as best for the people she serves — is exactly what makes her the perfect candidate for this November election. She doesn’t follow respectability politics that liberals in this country often fall prey to. Abrams stands on her own, allowing her voice to be heard loud and clear.
We at GO wish Abrams the best in this upcoming election and stand behind her wholeheartedly. This country needs more leaders like Abrams in positions of power.
