Stacey Abrams is going national with her fight against voter suppression.
The 2018 gubernatorial candidate from Georgia has often used her platform to speak out against efforts to disenfranchise and discourage voters in her home state. Now, the Democratic rising star is turning her attention to 20 other critical states ahead of the 2020 election.
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Her new national campaign, Fair Fight 2020, would create “voter protection” teams in battleground states like Florida, Nevada and North Carolina, as well as traditionally red states like Louisiana, Kentucky and Mississippi. According to the project’s website, the effort will focus on securing funding for local groups that fight voter suppression, though specific plans of action will vary from state to state to ensure compliance with campaign finance laws.
The overarching mission is “to make sure that no one has to go through in 2020 what we had to go through in 2018,” Abrams told attendees of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades convention when announcing the campaign.
She took on the cause of voter suppression in earnest following her narrow 2018 loss to Gov. Brian Kemp. Reports of malfunctioning voting machines and long wait times — which allegedly discouraged some citizens from casting ballots — led Abrams to refuse to concede the race in the days following the election. She formed Fair Fight to file a federal lawsuit.
[Related: Stacey Abrams Charges Voter Suppression, Starts Push to Get Out The Vote]
This week’s announcement follows months of speculation that Abrams would join an already crowded pool of Democratic presidential candidates — which she addressed directly. “We’re going to win because there are only two things stopping us in 2020: making sure people have a reason to vote and that they have the right to vote. Well, I’ve decided to leave it to a whole bunch of other folks to make sure they have a reason to vote,” Abrams said.
Instead, Abrams says she wants to do her part to make sure that everyone’s voice can be heard. “I’m here today to … make sure everyone has the right to vote in the United States of America,” she said. “That is what we’re going to do.”
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