Stacey Abrams has seemingly flipped Georgia, a state that hasn’t gone to a Democratic president since 1992. Her activism and tireless work have played no small part in changing the tides in a state that Republicans have traditionally considered a done deal. It’s been one of the most talked-about surprises of the 2020 election, and Stacey Abrams is at the center of this significant flip.
In 2018, Stacey Abrams lost a race for the governor of Georgia to Brian Kemp. Her loss was suspected to come in large part from massive, state-wide, racially motivated voter suppression. Abrams’ loss made headlines nationwide, and made her a household name.
Following this suspicious loss, Abrams channeled all of her energy into activism in her home state of Georgia. In the speech she gave ending her campaign for governor, she announced that she would create Fair Fight Action, a non-profit organization dedicated to voting rights.
Activism and Voting Rights
In the last two years, Stacey Abrams and her team at Fair Fight Action have worked tirelessly to educate voters about their voting rights. They have encouraged voter turnout by making it easier to vote and educating folks about the importance of voting. In 2020, this mission evolved and became even more important with the Presidential election looming. Abrams then created Fair Fight 2020, dedicated to building voter protection teams across the country to protect the right to vote.
Abrams also worked with The New Georgia Project to register over 500,000 voters in the state ahead of the 2020 election—mostly young people and people of color. The impact of this new rush of registered voters cannot be underestimated.
This huge push for voting rights had visible and meaningful results in states like Georgia, where voter suppression has limited the Black vote and made it easier to elect Republican candidates in the state. Many thought that after her gubernatorial loss that Abrams should run for Senate. She bewildered the political world when she instead put her political ambitions on hold to dedicate herself completely to changing the politics of Georgia to better reflect it’s residents.
The Role of Black Women
Stacey Abrams played a huge role in how Georgia flipped, but she did not do it alone. Tamieka Atkins of ProGeorgia, Nsé Ufot of The New Georgia Project, and Deborah Scott of Georgia Stand-Up all played significant roles in this transformation of the Georgia voting map. If you’re sensing a theme here, you are correct. It is the tireless work of Black women that flipped Georgia blue.
These Black female activists were supported at the polls by Black women voters, who voted overwhelmingly, more than any other demographic, for Joe Biden. According to an AP VoteCast survey, 93% of Black women voted Democrat in the 2020 Presidential election.
