While Georgia’s Senatorial run-off races earlier this month were historic, it is unlikely that the state would have turned blue without the work of former Gubernatorial candidate-turned voting rights activist Stacey Abrams.
Abrams’ Fair Fight organization and ground organizing effort helped register millions of people to vote in the southern state and elect Democrats Raphael Warnock as Georgia’s first Black senator and Jon Ossoff.
In a new interview with Atlanta’s WSB-TV 2, Abrams says she didn’t act alone and that it took the work of hundreds of people who gave their time in support of her cause.
“I appreciate the support and the accolades, but I want to keep reminding folks that it took millions of votes, and hundreds of people and organizations to get this work done. And it was a 10-year journey,” she told the news station. “While I’m deeply proud of the work, and the role that I played, I want to always be certain that we give credit to all of the groups and the people who worked together to make this happen.”
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Abrams, who has a wealth of experience in Georgia politics as a minority leader in the Georgia House from 2011 to 2017, says that while the December and January elections were encouraging, she believes there’s a lot more work to be done.
“We are proud of the work we did to guarantee access to the right to vote. We are deeply proud of, and I am deeply proud of, the transformation we have seen in Georgia,” she said. “But you know, I always meet these moments with gratitude for the work done by others, but also with the recognition that this is the beginning of the work we have to do. We’re not done yet.”
Next up, Abrams says she’s ready to work with the newly-inaugurated Joe Biden Administration and is focused on not seeing rollbacks in voter access while also paying attention to COVID-19 recovery efforts. Additionally, she’s launched an organization called the Southern Economic Advancement Project with an emphasis on relaying how hard the coronavirus pandemic has hit the South and communities of color.
“We have to have a COVID recovery package that focuses on our needs and understands that the South is different, but just as vital to the rest of this country, as I think this election cycle proved,” she said.