AAfter a critical runoff election that helped Democrats solidify their majority in the US Senate, Georgia’s status as a political battleground with national influence has become clearer. Georgia now boasts a highly engaged electorate, turning out in record numbers from election to election.
While various factors are contributing, many in Georgia point to the state’s grassroots coalition built over the past decade that has attempted to register, engage, and educate voters like never before. This coalition is headed by former House Minority Leader and two-time gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
Throughout the South, black women have a long history of organizing their communities to redefine and wield political power. Abrams is one of the latest in a long line of black women, which also includes civil rights activists Fannie Lou Hamer and Ella Baker, who are building on that legacy and joining the marathon of the fight for democracy.
Despite two defeats in the gubernatorial race, Abram’s influence has continued to shape Georgia’s political sphere. Abrams, the founder of two of Georgia’s largest suffrage organizations, Fair Fight and New Georgia Project, set out nearly a decade ago to expand and include the state’s electorate by wooing voters whose voices have long been ignored.
“The State [Democrats] were at a crossroads,” said Kendra Cotton, CEO of the New Georgia Project. “We would either continue on this path of pursuing the white moderates, or we would move and set out on a path to expand the electorate and really try to educate and intentionally engage Blacks, Browns and young people. participate in the electoral process at a higher level.”
Through a multi-ethnic, cross-movement grassroots campaign, Abrams and her allies developed a political infrastructure that increased turnout among Black, Asian, Hispanic, low-income and young voters who tended to vote for more progressive candidates. Organizations like Black Voters Matter, the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, and the New Georgia Project, all led by black women, have served as pillars within a growing coalition that has reached out to communities across the state to register and garner record numbers of voters .
According to the Secretary of State, Georgia had over seven million active voters at the end of the 2022 runoff. Of these seven million, those aged 18 to 24 make up the largest voting population.
While it’s clear that Abrams isn’t the only force behind Georgia’s growing electorate and a renewed focus on voting rights across the country, Cotton said she serves as a “focal point” in American political history that many have grown fond of.
“We didn’t bet on Abrams as a candidate, but on the vision that the future of the election really does lie in its young people and blacks and browns who have been the backbone of this nation for generations but don’t fully know how to assert power power they had.”
Santiago Mayer, founder and executive director of youth-led voting organization Voters of Tomorrow, says Abrams served as inspiration for his organization and his work as a youth organizer working to support and amplify the voice of young voters.
“The work of getting people to vote and make their voices heard is simply one of the most important jobs anyone can do because it guides our future,” Mayer said. “Stacey Abrams has shown us how we can carry and build on that legacy, and what we can achieve when you help those whose voices have been neglected for so long to make a real difference and take real action.”
“My work and the work I’m so passionate about is about winning voters all year round, because it’s not just about someone winning an election.” Photo: Ben Gray/AP
Young black voters in Georgia hit a new record in the 2020 election with 500,000 black voters aged 18-29. This contributed significantly to the overall growth of black voters in Georgia. Overall, Black voters in the state increased 25% from 2016 to 2020, while Asian and Hispanic voters saw increases of 12% and 18%, respectively.
But as the Georgian electorate grew, so did the opposition. After the 2020 election, Georgia took the national stage when Donald Trump refused to accept the election results. Abrams has been the focus of GOP anger, receiving attacks from Trump and his allies, as well as Gov. Brian Kemp and his allies.
After unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud during the 2020 election by Trump and his allies, Kemp and the Georgia GOP appear to have developed a solution to a problem that never existed. The result was a sweeping and tough new voter law that affected everything from who gets to help voters register to distributing resources to voters waiting in Georgia’s notoriously long lines outside constituencies.
Kemp and other GOP officials also worked to have Abrams flagged as an election denier for her allegations of voter suppression across the state in 2020.
Nonetheless, Abrams was a key player in expanding Georgia’s electorate in 2022 and, much to Trump’s chagrin, delivered a key Democratic victory in the presidential election.
Because of the state’s highly committed voting rights coalition and clear voting rights infrastructure under Abrams’ leadership, voters and activists alike were able to navigate a system that erected new barriers in the way of voting. Moving in unison with unified messages, they spread across the state and guided voters through Georgia’s ever-changing electoral landscape.
And the results were clear. In a concerted effort to encourage voters to vote early to mitigate potential troubles this election season, nearly 3 million people cast their ballots early, a record for the state. The turnout, experts say, highlights the gradual progress that is critical to bringing about the lasting change required for major policy change.
“Party building at the state and national levels requires time and resources to build an apparatus that will translate these shifts into real political change, and we must not forget that,” said Dr. Anthony Michael Kreis, law professor at Georgia State University. “[Abrams] could help mobilize Georgia Democrats, build a bridge between different groups of voters, and really motivate the electorate.”
While Abrams didn’t necessarily bear the fruits of that energetic constituency during her two gubernatorial campaigns, many Democrats, both statewide and nationally, did. Most notably, Georgia voters played a significant role in the 2020 election of Joe Biden, the first Democratic candidate to win Georgia’s electoral college in two decades.
“Anytime you see [senators] Ossoff and Warnock and President Biden in Washington, you’re looking at the work of Stacey Abrams,” Rev. Al Sharpton said.
Whether for reasons of politics, party, gender, or race, Abrams was unsuccessful in her bids to be Georgia’s next governor. But their ability to mobilize voters, expand political power, and build a political infrastructure that is actively redefining the South will not be forgotten anytime soon. As Cotton explains, “The gains we have now cannot be separated from the vision they had then.”
In her only interview after the election earlier this month, Abrams revealed that while she may run again, she will maintain her role in the fight to redefine voter reach, expand the electorate and amplify the votes of long-ignored voters.
“My work and the work I’m so dedicated to is about winning voters all year round, because it’s not just about someone winning an election,” Abrams said. “It’s about making your life better, and that should be our mission.”
