Stacey Abrams kicks off “Thank You” tour in Albany

ALBANY — Democrat Stacey Abrams may have fallen short of her bid to become Georgia’s first black female governor in November, but that has done nothing to keep her out of the spotlight as a possible opponent for Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue next year.

While Abrams has admitted talking to some well-heeled Democratic donors, she will not confirm a run against Perdue. She sure talked like a candidate during a visit to Albany on Monday while kicking off another tour at the Grille House, the first of a series of “thank you” events for supporters across the state.

The former state House minority leader and her team is taking the time to thank volunteers and supporters who invested their time in her historic campaign, which turned out a record number of Democratic voters. Abrams is now founder and chair of Fair Fight, an organization dedicated to ending voter suppression and giving every eligible Georgian a voice in the state’s elections.

Abrams, who lost the governor’s mansion by two percentage points to Gov. Brian Kemp, ran an electrifying campaign, just like she electrified the crowd of supporters who packed the Grille House on the day set aside to honor the late Martin Luther King Jr.

“Last Monday there was an event in Atlanta (Kemp’s inauguration) and in certain ways there is a truth to the fact that history was not ours. That night victory was not ours,” she said. “But I’m here to tell you we won. And here’s what I mean. We had a mission of raising voices that had not been heard; there we issues we weren’t supposed to talk about and turning out voters who weren’t supposed to come to the ballot box. In this county despite nature trying to take you out of the game and despite voter suppression that worked wonders in southwest Georgia, y’all still showed out.

“In 2018 I got 70 percent of the vote in Dougherty County, and you joined a chorus around the state of Georgia. Voters stood up and made their voices heard. We changed the state of Georgia and we came up pretty hard on people who tried to keep things the way it was.”

Abrams said the campaign was hard work, but that the work is not done.

“Our work is not done because I’m not in the governor’s mansion,” she said. “Our work is not done because we still don’t have Medicaid expansion. Our work is not done because the person who now occupies that office is not talking about criminal justice reform. Our work is not done because all of you have not signed up for the Affordable Care Act. There is still time to sign up, but they’re not telling you this. The governor of Georgia is not telling you to take advantage of your opportunity.

“Sometimes you change your leadership by winning and sometimes you change it by challenging it. And I am here to thank you for challenging the status quo.”

Abrams said she has visited all of the state’s 159 counties and “knows the full of Georgia.”

“The future of Georgia is not metro Atlanta, the future of Georgia is along the Flint River,” she said. “The future of Georgia is along the Chattahoochee, and the Altamaha. The future of Georgia is all of Georgia and we have to have leaders who see all of Georgia and believe in all of Georgia even if all of Georgia doesn’t believe in you.”

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