Stacey Abrams may have lost the 2018 election for governor of Georgia but the former Democratic state lawmaker is eyeing higher elected offices, including a U.S. Senate seat in 2020.
Sharpton introduced Abrams as “a star of the Democratic Party.” Regarding a Senate bid, Abrams said she is considering “if it’s the right job for the work she wants to do.”
Sharpton then pivoted to voter suppression, an issue at the center of Abrams’s career and what she has blamed for her midterm election loss after current Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, won the seat.
“We know we did not have a fair fight in Georgia. That’s why I created Fair Fight Action, which is an organization dedicated to pushing voting rights for everyone,” Abrams said.
“The organization we founded is not a partisan organization, it’s a democracy organization,” she said.
But Fair Fight Action has also been identified as a so-called “dark money” organization. Dark money refers to political spending where donors are not disclosed and sources of funding are unknown.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, dark money groups are responsible for a “staggering gap” in tracking how political spending impacts elections—and arguably makes them unfair.
Documents filed with the Georgia Secretary of State show that Abrams is now expanding her dark money operations.
Fair Fight Action was formerly called the Voter Access Initiative but a name change occurred on Dec. 14. The tax-exempt nonprofit’s existing articles of incorporation were also amended to allow for greater political activity.
Among other activities, Fair Fight Action is now able to donate to super PACs that can support or attack specific candidates, potentially paving the way for Abrams to challenge Georgia’s incumbent Republican Sen. David Perdue in 2020.
Abrams’s 2018 gubernatorial effort would have made her the nation’s first black female governor in the nation’s history. She lost by only 17,000 votes to Kemp, who served as Georgia’s Secretary of State from 2010 until Nov. 8, 2018, or two days after the polls closed.
As the state’s chief elections officer, Kemp was responsible for the state’s election integrity procedures. Abrams accused him of purging thousands of minority voters from voter rolls, while Kemp maintained that incorrect voter registrations and those lacking sufficient identification were properly moved to “pending” status.
Citing election abuses, Abrams didn’t officially end her campaign until 10 days after Nov. 6, although she has continued a public relations campaign of sorts.
With the help of outside counsel, Abrams immediately filed a federal lawsuit alleging systematic voter suppression in the election.
Voter suppression is a message that resonates with many Georgia voters, as evidenced by Abrams earning more total votes than any Democrat in the state’s history.
Through her campaign, associated dark money groups, and the state Democratic Party, she raised an unprecedented $42 million last year.
The money was largely spent on hundreds of staffers and canvassers, media attack ads, and lawyers.
Abrams’s affiliation with dark money nonprofits and political action committees is very much a part of her political ascendance from backbench status in the Georgia Legislature to becoming a national Democratic Party star with elite aspirations.
Abrams was elected to state House District 89 in 2007. But in 2014, she began receiving a massive influx of unforeseen political donations.
According to public records, Abrams raised $12.5 million from 2013 to 2016 through two nonprofits she founded; Third Sector Development and Voter Access Institute—now Fair Fight Action.
Prior to 2018, Third Sector Development organized a statewide voter registration drive known as the New Georgia Project. The effort relied on support from wealthy progressive donors who continued giving millions to Abrams during her run for governor.
Public records showed that Abrams’s Third Sector Development and Voter Access Institute were funded in part by the national progressive groups, American Votes, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, and Priorities USA.
“George Soros and the Soros family have demonstrated nothing but deep investment and commitment to social justice. That is how I came to know them because they were early investors in the New Georgia Project,” she said.
