Stacey Abrams

Stacey Abrams in 2021

Stacey Yvonne Abrams (/ˈeɪbrəmz/; born December 9, 1973) is a politician, lawyer, voting rights activist, and author who served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017, serving as minority leader from 2011 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Abrams founded Fair Fight Action, an organization to address voter suppression, in 2018.

Quotes

• The minute the elections are over, the people who won—who did not share our values—are going to be working hard. We have to be working even harder.
  • Interview with Democracy now (January 2019)

• I’m proud to be part of a pantheon of elected leaders who, from around this country, found their voices and lifted up their communities. What we were able to do in Georgia was build an unprecedented multicultural, multiethnic coalition. We tripled Latino and Asian Pacific Islander participation. We increased youth participation by 139 percent. And we outperformed with African Americans and with white voters to numbers that haven’t been seen in Georgia before. And what that signals is that you can win in America, you can win in the Deep South, by talking to communities and engaging them where they are and treating them with the respect that every community deserves.
  • Interview with Democracy now (January 2019)

• We must remember that we’re in the state where the red clay gives life to generations of dreamers; a state where Martin marched on ballot boxes and challenged a nation’s conscience; a Georgia that gave us the Godfather of Soul, the queen of the Met, and sent a peanut farmer to the Oval Office. That is our Georgia.
  • May 23 2018 speech, cited here

Interviews with Democracy Now (June 2018)

Part 1 and Part 2

• It was an extraordinary night, not just for me and what it symbolized for women and women of color, but what it symbolizes for Georgia and for America. We’re changing the face of leadership in this country. And that means reflecting the very different experiences and lives that folks have, recognizing that that change is a good thing for Georgia and a good thing for America.

• I’m running on very clear progressive values, Democratic values. We talk about educating children from cradle to career. And that’s something that resonated across the state of Georgia. We talk about a diverse and inclusive economy that works for every Georgian, no matter where you live.

• I built a campaign that’s been very different from a lot of campaigns that preceded me. Rather than spending a lot of money trying to convert Republicans into Democrats, I’m spending the bulk of our resources encouraging voters who share our values, Democratic-leaning voters and independent thinkers, so that they know that if they vote, they actually will get a different result. Because what’s really happened is that the unheard and unseen have given up. And I believe that with the right candidate and the right message and the right investment, we can turn them into active voters.

• I want us to understand that those who are on the sidelines, those who find their voices muted or find their voices actually silenced have power. And there is no more profound power in a democracy than the power to vote.

• We have to give ourselves permission to want more...I think the first and most important foundational piece of advice is dream big. Think about what you want, and don’t let anyone tell you you can’t have it.

• There is nothing inherent in being a minority that says you can’t have everything you want.

• Part of our leadership is understanding that you can’t change what other people think of you, but you can change how you react to their thinking and how you respond to it.

• No matter what your otherness is, it is not an impediment, it is not a detraction, it is a source of power.

Quotes about Stacey Abrams

• Dorothy Lee Bolden's emphasis on voting rights and equality was also heard loud and clear by another generation of community-minded Black leaders like voting rights activist and politician Stacey Abrams, whose 2018 gubernatorial campaign was strongly supported in Atlanta by the National Domestic Workers Alliance.
  • Kim Kelly (journalist) Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor (2022)

• I'm proud to be supporting Stacey Abrams for Governor of Georgia. She will make access to universal Pre-K a reality for Georgia’s children, raise the minimum wage, that currently at $5.15 an hour keeps families trapped in poverty, eliminate cash bail, and make sure people can participate in their government by introducing automatic voter registration.
  • Bernie Sanders Post (October 2018)

External links

• Twitter page