Stacey Abrams may be a driving force in Georgian politics, but the Democrat has her roots in Mississippi.
“She grew up in Mississippi and raised in Georgia,” her mother Carolyn Abrams once told the Hattiesburg American.
Abrams, 47, grew up in Gulfport where her parents raised six children and taught them to work hard and love God and family.
“We had three principles,” said Carolyn Abrams. “You should go to church, go to school, and take care of each other.”
Stacey Abrams took family principles and turned them into a career in public service, including 10 years serving as a state representative in Georgia. She served as chairwoman of the minority house for six years.
On Wednesday, Abrams announced that she would run for governor of Georgia a second time. If successful, she would be the state’s first black female governor and the nation’s first female black governor.
Stacey Abrams: The former Mississippian made his first bid for the governor of Georgia in 2018
Abrams supported the winning candidates
Abrams ran against the current government in 2018. Brian Kemp, who said he was planning to be re-elected but would run against Republican challengers in the party’s primary. Abrams narrowly lost to Kemp in 2018.
Since then, Abrams has fueled the political fires and provided the democratic response to then-President Donald Trump’s 2019 State of the Union address.
She threw her support behind presidential candidate Joe Biden and his runner-up Kamala Harris in the 2020 election and Georgia’s Senate nominees Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
Through her work with FairFight, a political action committee focused on the right to vote, and other voting organizations, Abrams was involved in registering an estimated 800,000 new voters in Georgia ahead of the 2020 elections.
Georgia went blue in the 2020 presidential election, sending the 16 state electoral college votes to a Democrat for the first time since 1992. Ossoff and Warnock also won their races, giving the Democrats control of the House and Senate.
Stacey Abrams is running for governor:What has the Georgia Democrat been up to since the 2018 race?
Abrams focuses on the gubernatorial race again
Now is the time for Abrams to focus on her career again.
Your campaign aims to unite Georgians from all walks of life.
“Opportunities and success in Georgia shouldn’t be determined by your zip code, background or access to power,” Abrams said on Twitter when she announced the start of her campaign. “When our Georgia moves on to its next and greatest chapter? , we need leadership. ”
Abrams believes she is the leader who can achieve this.
“I’ve done a lot of jobs in my life,” she said. “And over the past four years, when the toughest times hit us all, I’ve done my part in helping families get through.
“My job was to bow my head and keep working towards a Georgia.”
The parents were ministers before they retired
Her parents both served as ministers for the United Methodist Church. Robert Abrams worked in prison. Carolyn Abrams was a pastor at a church in Wiggins.
The couple retired to their homeland, Hattiesburg, where they raised their adoptive daughter, Faith Abrams. The family recently moved to Atlanta to be closer to their other children.
The Abramses had moved to Atlanta before when Stacey was in high school.
Education was an important part of family life
“They were very accomplished children,” Carolyn Abrams said earlier. “Even as kids, they loved learning, they loved the challenge – I tell people that they read the World Book Encyclopedia for fun. They taught each other. “
Stacey Abrams was a senior at Avondale High School in DeKalb County, followed by a bachelor’s degree from Spelman College and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Texas at Austin.
She later earned a law degree from Yale University, as did her sister Leslie Abrams, who was named U.S. District Judge for Middle Georgia by then-President Barack Obama in 2014.
Stacey and her five siblings attended some of the most prestigious colleges and universities in the country.
Andrea Abrams, who attended Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, earned a Ph.D. at Emory University. Richard Abrams attended Payne College in Augusta, Georgia. Walter Abrams attended Morehouse College in Atlanta. Jeanine Abrams went to Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
Her parents earned a bachelor’s degree from Tougaloo College after graduating from Rowan High School in Hattiesburg. They earned advanced degrees while working full-time and raising six children.
A born leader and natural problem solver
As a child, Stacey stood out from her siblings, say her parents.
“I knew from a young age that Stacey was going to be special,” said Robert Abrams. “While growing up in Mississippi, I saw a young girl grow into a dedicated leader.”
Stacey is the natural problem solver, her mother said.
“She’d rather read than play outside,” said Carolyn Abrams. “The kids called it a walking encyclopedia. She always preferred to read rather than play outdoors, and she has always cared about people.
“This led, I believe, to her wanting to become governor because this is an area where she can really make a difference.”
Savannah Morning News reporter Will Peebles contributed to this story.
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