In 2018 Stacey Abrams lost Georgia’s gubernatorial election to Republican Brian Kemp amid rampant voter suppression. Not to be counted out, Stacey was able to register 800K new voters in the state of Georgia through her organization Fair Fight Action. While the presidential race is still too close to call in Georgia, a Democratic candidate is leading in that state for the first time since 1992.
Stacey is working on Georgia’s January run-off election, which could decide control of the Senate. In an interview with Stephen Colbert, she said that she hopes Georgia’s organizational efforts can be duplicated across the south. Stacey’s book, Our Time is Now, gives a detailed blue print on how this was accomplished. Stacey also discussed being excited about the Biden/Harris win, and kicking out Trump come January. Here are a few quotes from that interview via Entertainment Tonight.
Colbert also asked Abrams about a number of “think pieces” written by political pundits and commentators who raised the question of whether or not the Democrats really won, considering how many pollsters predicted a landslide for Biden.
“Yeah, we really won,” Abrams said.
“There is an orange menace of putrescence that will no longer be able to occupy the White House,” she continued, using a euphemism for Trump that Colbert seemed to really enjoy. “There is an incoming president who had moral leadership and character and who actually believes in science and facts.”
“And did I mention Trump is leaving? That’s a big win,” she added. “We can get the rest of it done.”
Abrams also addressed the historic nature of Kamala Harris’ victory as the Vice President-elect, and what it means for people across the country.
“There’s a saying that you cannot be what you cannot see. It’s not quite a truism, because if it were we wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything. But it is a warning,” Abrams said. “[Harris] is a direct repudiation of this notion that women of color, and people of color, are limited in the scope of our ambitions and accomplishments.”
“We’re proud of her and what she signals is to come for America,” Abrams added.
Stacey has been one of my favorite political stars on the scene in the last couple of years. I love her resiliency and the fact that she gives the best quotes. The “orange menace of putrescence” took me out. Besides being a lawyer, a voter’s right advocate and an overall badass, Stacey is also a romance novelist. She writes under the pseudonym Selena Montgomery and you can find her books on Amazon.
I hope to see what Stacey accomplished in Georgia happen in Texas. I plan to work with whomever I can to ensure Texas goes blue in 2024 or at the very least becomes a battleground state. But before that I would like to get rid of Governor Abbott and Ted Cruz in 2022. I am super excited to see what Stacey does going forward. She stated in her interview that she volunteered on Bill Clinton’s campaign in 1992 as a college student. She also served as a Georgia state representative from 2007-2017. So I feel she has a long and illustrious political career ahead of her. I am sure Biden and Harris will pluck her up for something in their administration.
Until then, I will continue to donate to Warnock and Ossoff’s campaigns and get involved in several initiatives to help flip the senate, including sending postcards topotential voters in Georgia. I will also celebrate Stacey’s huge win, she definitely deserves all the accolades she is receiving at the moment.
Here’s the first part of her interview, the second part is here:
I love her. She was one of my first wishes for VP, although I understand why they wanted someone who had gone through a national campaign (Harris, Warren, etc.). Part of me wants her to take over the DNC and whip it into shape, but part of me also hopes she runs for governor again in Georgia.
Totally agree, Div. And thank you Oya for the post. Flipping the senate is supper important and thus the runoff in Georgia on Jan 5 is critical. Right now, McConnell runs the senate, however if Democrats can flip it by getting even one more senator than republicans it becomes a Democratic run senate. Even if we can achieve just a 50/50 split, then the Vice President becomes the tie breaker vote and that’s a powerful thing. Republican controlled senate was very hurtful to Obama in getting his appointments and goals done and it will be equally difficult for Biden if McConnell stays as majority whip. A President relying on getting his agenda done by signing executive orders is weakened as every one of those orders can be rescinded by the next president. Trump did it to Obama and Biden will do it to Trump but do we really need this every 4 years? It’s living on a seesaw. I donated $100 to each of the Georgia Democrat runoff candidates yesterday via Ms Abrams appeal shown above. Come on fellow Celebitchies, let’s do what we can…even $10 each adds up. 🙏
She is a force and a delight. I love how the entire country is going all hands on deck to help Warnock and Ossoff get elected. As we now know, the fight against voter suppression will never end.
I love how she took her loss in GA and turned it into something so much more. And shining a light on modern day voter suppression is so important.
I’m hopeful we can get the GA seats. Even turning GA blue for the presidential race and making it into a real battleground state is a big win though.
My fellow CBs from Georgia, please please vote and encourage others to, so we could have an evenly split senate and Kamala will have the deciding vote; more importantly we won’t have to deal with Mitch McConnell for 2 years as 2022 will be around the corner soon enough
Fellow Georgian here! I’m voting and donating money!!
I want Stacey to have any cabinet position she wants, but then I want her out there whipping the Democratic Party into shape. She is a superstar and a gift to the party.
I want her to run the DNC-Tom Perez is useless.
She is an inspiration to all!
One of the things that she said and I wholeheartedly agree –
“It’s not just a single election. We don’t elect saviours, we elect workers. We elect people to work for us and we have to make certain that they are working for every level of government and that we hold them accountable every single day.”
I am old enough to remember when my state of Texas WAS blue enough. Having said that it is ongoing dream to get rid of Abbott and Cruz, et. al. I am hoping it happens in my lifetime.
I love the fact that Ms. Abrams used the word “putresecence” which has the dumpsters scrambling for a dictionary or Google.
I love her and I love Colbert.
Me too. Cruz and Abbott (and Patrick, who may be the worst one) are an embarrassment and a stain on my home state. I echo Oya’s desire to turn Texas blue! We got close this time, it will happen.
exactly! I’ll let you all know what I uncover and if I can find an organization that is doing what Stacey did in case you want to get involved. As far as Texas being I can’t believe the last time was my birth year 1976. Ann Richards will always be one of my faves BTW. I also think we are not focusing enough on the panhandle in Texas. There are place way out west that are more progressive than the Dem Party itself and I know a lot of voter suppression is happening out there. We also so need to advocate for the Indigenous population to have polling locations on their lands every election.
@ AMA1977, and MerlinsMom1808 and Oya, I am also a Texas resident and I was reading on Flipboard this afternoon about Patrick and his $1M dollar reward, and I was pissed!! I was so angry that I posted on the comments about what Texas once was. The incredible Gov. Ann Richards, Sen. Barabara Jordan and Sen. Mickey Leland!! I encouraged everyone to vote blue in 2022!! These guys were such powerhouses!! My mother cried for a week when Leland died and I cried for a month, well complained too, when they changed IAH, that’s Houston’s airport, over to Bush, I still refuse to call in Bush. But I did donate over the weekend for the Georgia senate races.
Stacy Abrams is going to be a powerhouse and super star, more than she is now!! She is the future, our future!!
She is a national treasure. Watching Abrams and Colbert made my heart sing.
She’s incredible, I’m going to get that book. What a star and an inspiration, my heart just rises up at her resilience & intelligence!
Oya, if you get rid of Cruz, I’ll love y’all forever!
If we can flip GA, you can definitely flip TX.
I don’t get how Cruz keeps getting re-elected, or how he even was elected the first time. He has no charisma to speak of, seems remarkably unlikeable, isn’t particularly effective in the Senate, etc.
He’s a disgusting slimy troll, but there are a number of people in this state who would vote for a stump with an (R) next to it’s name rather than a competent, intelligent, capable (D). Fortunately, their numbers are dwindling.
Unfortunately he was re-elected in 2018 so Texas and the rest of us are stuck with him for awhile.
Greg Abbott is horrible but also typical of GOP in do as I say, not as I do. Fighting for tort reform and limiting awards in personal injury suits when he has millions from, you guessed it, a big settlement he was awarded in the personal injury suit from the accident that caused his paralysis.
Yes, and then he made his disgusting play to allow social services offices to discriminate against disabled and LGBT benefits recipients, all while he touts his “Christian values.” I suspect that the vast majority of these GOP hypocrites are going to be very, very surprised when they meet their maker.
I sincerely hope so! A high school friend who has become a Trumper posted after the election how her and her husband were called racist, homophobic, etc. and she felt they were owed an apology by everyone. I asked how, not only as a self proclaimed Christian, but as a parent how she reconciled accepting behavior from Trump that she would never tolerate from her children, spouse, friends, family, fellow congregants, etc. Her response was some religious quote that basically said even if he’s evil,intolerant, and so on if he was chosen to lead it was God’s will. I think a lot of people will be surprised to find that won’t fly when trying to enter the Pearly Gates.
She is amazing. And I’ll do whatever she needs – make calls, write postcards – to win those January elections. We turned Wisconsin back to blue this year and our state Dem Party leader said Stacey gets credit for that too.
Not many people have the kind of dedication and charisma to pull people out of their apathy and fear and get them registered. I did a fair amount of canvassing in my twenties, and it most definitely not easy, if not downright potentially dangerous in some areas, so there is no way to remotely play down how huge of an accomplishment this is for her and other election fighters down there.
This being said, the potential in the Southern states is there – when I lived in Virginia as a child, it was red as raw meat red. Extremely conservative. Now it’s blue. The deep South I suspect will take the longest if it ever flips; the intense poverty and religious conservatism provides amazing tools by which the population can be exploited and suppressed. I can definitely see the Carolinas and Texas flipping within the next two decades, though.
She’s doing incredible work, though, and so is Yang, who just headed down to help her with it. I really hope those two, along with a lot of other figures in the party, can drag Democrats into the year 2020 and make it relevant again.
I think I would follow this woman anywhere.
My fellow GA folks: please vote out Loeffler and Perdue!
Oya, THANK YOU for helping us here in Georgia! We’re doing all we can to flip the Senate. And let me know when you’re ready for help in Texas!
p.s. Stacey Abrams is my QUEEN. What a smart, ethical woman she is. She was asked to run for one of those Senate seats, but instead chose to work toward a more honest election here in Georgia.
All my donations from now through the end of the year are going where Abrams tells me to put it (i.e., towards the GOTV efforts in advance of the runoff elections in Jan). Ten years ago she said it would take ten years to flip GA to blue and she and thousands of other mostly Af-Am folks did it. That’s the kind of political genius the Dems have needed for a long time and I will follow anyone who demonstrates they have it, and that’s Abrams. Even if she is appointed to the next Cabinet, I hope she does run for Governor again. She has shown how much she loves GA, enough to work hard to help it save itself, and she deserves to lead it.
Badass and with a sense of humour. She is a superhero. Also I watched LaTosha Brown just today, she is doing similar work in Georgia. Another highly inspiring woman. A real force. Here https://youtu.be/fxV3gRfmidQ.
My middle aged, white, retired Air Force Lt Colonel hubby just sent Warnock and Osoff $1000. He freaking hates McConnell with a passion and wants him minority leader if we have to be stuck with him. And he likes the candidates as well as dislikes their opponents so that’s a plus. He had his credit card ready as soon as runoffs were declared. We’d given to Kelly (who won) and Harrison, McGrath and Hagar who lost. So let’s bring it up to 3/3! And he’s like ‘Stacy Abrams for whatever she wants’. I’ve heard maybe DMC chair but I don’t know if she’d want that. I’ve also heard Jaime Harrison. When can she run for governor again ?
Side note—I now read celebitchty to him when he’s getting ready for work. Lol He loves the Trump snark (articles and comments) and is totally up on the treatment of the Sussexes.
@ Courtney B., you guys sound like my kind of people!! Greetings from Texas where we are working hard to turn this state blue!! I think Abrams would excel at any post she is given!! One thing to note guys, is that a great deal of CA residents from Silicon Valley have been moving into Austin in droves for the past 5 years, not that this reflects an entire movement of democrats, but there’s hope!! Beto did very well in Texas and he has star power here. He will be a driving force too! We have excellent talent in Texas, we just have to help pull them up, get them out and get them voted!!
I love that Abrams has time to write!! What an incredible woman she is!!
She is amazing.
I am asking as someone who doesn’t know, since I am from Canada. Would it be possible to change some of the Southern states like Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas etc Blue? If Georgia can and Texas could…what about the other Southern states? Does West Virginia count as Southern?