Stacey Abrams has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Georgia politician and 2018 gubernatorial candidate was nominated for her work promoting voting rights in the southern state. Her efforts to turn out Black voters were integral in turning Georgia blue, first in the Presidential election of 2020 and then in the Senate run-off this past January. Her efforts have also re-enfranchised Black voters who’d been subject to voter suppression in the state for decades.
“Abrams’ work follows in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s footsteps in the fight for equality before the law and for civil rights,” says Lars Haltbrekken, a member of Norway’s parliament.
Other nominees for the prize include climate activist Greta Thunberg and Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, The Hill reports. The committee will release a short-list for the final award — which will be announced in the fall — this March.
Abrams began The New Georgia Project in 2014 to turn out Black voters. After her narrow defeat in the 2018 gubernatorial race, which she lost to Republican Brian Kemp, she founded Fair Fight, the organization which many credit for Democrats’ success in the 2020 and 2021 election cycle.
Although no announcement has been made, The Hill reports that Abrams will soon announce another bid for the governorship. To date, no Black woman has been elected a state’s governor anywhere in the country.
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