In 2018, Stacey Abrams lost to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp by approximately 50,000 votes. The election was not close enough to trigger a runoff. So Abrams spent the next four years acting as the poster child for a stolen election and blamed her loss on voter suppression. She was an election denier before it became a (cue scary voice) “threat to our democracy.” While she claims she conceded the election, Abrams has never admitted she lost.
President Joe Biden only won the state in 2020 by less than 12,000 votes, and Abrams thoroughly believes he won fair and square.
Yet now, Stacey Abrams is making the rounds ahead of the impending midterms, singing the same old excuse. Recently, the courts spiked every claim Abrams and her allies made about the election. And despite the left-wing freakout over Georgia’s new election law, there has been record-setting turnout during early voting. One analysis has black participation up three percent from 2020. In 2018, the spread between Kemp and Abrams was 1.4%. Headed into Tuesday’s election, the RCP average shows Kemp leading by an average of 8.1%.
Still, in an interview with MSNBC’s Ali Velshi, Abrams returned to voter suppression claims. Hysterically, the cover photo in the video showed a mobile voting booth. Georgia has mobile homes converted into voting stations to go to the voter — which apparently still isn’t good enough. And Velshi lamented that activist groups could not provide water or food while people waited in line.
Abrams repeated those claims. As a Georgia voter and poll watcher, I have never been offered food or drinks in line or seen the practice. Of course, I live and participate in reliably red districts where elections are well managed by the county, and people come out to vote as a civic duty, not for free stuff. No one ever mentions that the new law also has wait time limits and requires monitoring. If the wait is too long, a county must open another location.
Velshi noted many polls show Kemp with a double-digit lead and asked Abrams what she thought of the state of the race. She told the host she was sure she would win if voters did not have to navigate the “voter suppression tactics” employed by Republicans. Like mobile voting stations? Or maybe motor-voter registration? No-excuse absentee ballots? I’ve lived and voted in five states, and Georgia may be the easiest to register and vote in.
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Then Abrams tried to explain how there could be a record turnout, including among black voters, and voter suppression. “And while the polls are always going to tell the story you want to see, what we know is that the untold story is that this is a tight race, it is neck and neck, and we believe that we are on a path to victory if we can get all our voters turned out and if they can navigate the difficulties put in place by Brian Kemp and Brad Raffensperger.”
It is not neck and neck. It hasn’t been for months. According to Civiqs, Georgia voters approve of Joe Biden at a rate of 36%. Many credit Abrams with helping Biden win the state — probably because she took credit for it — and Biden praised her for her work. Astonishingly, only 67% of black Georgians approve of Biden, and only 31% of men do.
Perhaps that’s why Abrams is blaming black men if she loses. To explain this position, she says black male voters in Georgia get targeted with “misinformation.” Someone should ask her who is doing that. The gas station owners, when advertising the price per gallon? The grocery store when it marks food prices? The crime in Atlanta?
Or does she think the top vote-getter in the Democrat primary for Lieutenant Governor is too dumb to know what’s good for him? According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Kwanza Hall is endorsing Burt Jones for the number two job because of his proven record of delivering results, and Hall backs Kemp for his tough decisions in unprecedented circumstances during COVID-19.
Abrams underperformed with black men in 2018, earning only 88% of the vote. This cycle, the AJC noted in September, “About 80% of Black voters say they’re backing Abrams, and an additional 10% support Kemp. Abrams likely needs to push her number above 90% to win in November.” Rather than figure out why she isn’t resonating at the level she needs to, she will blame black men when she loses.
And voter suppression. One would think there would be examples, if votes sufficient to make up an 8-10% difference were being suppressed. Or an outcry. Or it would require actual Jim Crow policies, like a firehose. Of course, none of that is happening in Georgia, and no suppressed voters are coming forward. The county drives the voting booth to voters’ neighborhoods in some counties. What more does Abrams want?
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