ATLANTA — Recently, Stacey Abrams believed that she would be in a competitive presidential race, potentially facing off against Kamala Harris.
In 2020, both Abrams and Harris were prime candidates for Joe Biden’s vice presidential selection, and Abrams was enthusiastic: “As a young Black girl growing up in Mississippi, I learned that if I didn’t advocate for myself, no one else would, so … ‘Yes, I would be willing to serve,’” she stated on NBC in April of 2020.
Ultimately, the opportunity went to Harris.
Now, Harris’ future is again intertwined with Abrams as the vice president aims to duplicate Biden’s unexpected triumph in Georgia — a success largely attributed to Abrams’ strategies and fundraising abilities. However, compared to 2020, when Abrams was at her political zenith, she is now viewed as a diminished figure, raising questions about whether her legacy can mobilize voters and assist Harris in securing a victory, even with concerted efforts.
Despite their similar trajectories, Abrams and Harris have interacted minimally over the years. Following their joint appearance at the first Georgia rally after Harris received the nomination in July, Abrams was mostly absent from the campaign trail for several weeks. Although she has increased her public appearances recently, many doubt she can exert the decisive political influence she once had in previous elections.
“Leader Abrams played a vital role when the president prevailed in 2020. I believe the infrastructure she built contributed to the Georgia wins at the U.S. Senate level for Warnock and Ossoff,” said Kasim Reed, the former Democratic mayor of Atlanta. “She paid a price for her organizing efforts, but I don’t think any reasonable person would argue that Leader Abrams is the same messenger today as she was in ’18, ’20, or ’22.”
Concerns persist regarding Abrams’ respected network of nonprofit organizations.
The nonprofits she established, which once drove voter registration in Black communities and engaged less active voters, are struggling. Fair Fight Action is facing significant fundraising challenges, starting this election year with a $2.5 million deficit, as reported by the Atlanta Journal Constitution — in 2020, it began the year with nearly $1 million saved, as indicated in its annual tax documents. The New Georgia Project, focused on community organizing, is recovering from financial scandals that prompted a state ethics investigation and led to the exit of its longtime leader.
Although she is no longer directly involved in these organizations, they relied heavily on her political brand. However, that brand has weakened following her unexpected 7.5-point defeat to GOP Gov. Brian Kemp in their highly anticipated rematch in 2022. (Four years earlier, the margin of loss had been only 1.4 percent for Kemp.)
From the outset of her 2018 gubernatorial campaign to the conclusion of her second run in 2022, Abrams’s campaign committees, PACs, and the nonprofits she founded raised and spent $460 million for her own electoral bids and to organize, register, and motivate Democratic voters in Georgia.
Yet in 2024, Abrams’s fundraising has totaled less than $4 million: around $200,000 for a state PAC that has reported about $800,000 on hand but is also in debt for a similar amount due to expenses from her 2022 gubernatorial campaign, according to the latest financial disclosures; alongside an additional $3.6 million for a newly established federal PAC founded by Abrams, named Speak Up PAC, as per an October filing.
Georgia Democratic officials indicate that these figures do not encompass all the fundraising she has conducted for other groups and for Harris directly. Furthermore, she has ramped up her activities in the campaign’s final weeks, headlining a rally the day before early voting commenced and participating in various canvassing launch events. Recently, Abrams has joined former President Bill Clinton in Fort Valley, joined Julie Roberts in Atlanta, and appeared with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff in Athens.
Abrams did not respond to interview requests made through Fair Fight Action.
The Harris campaign declined to comment.
Other prominent Democrats anticipate that the frameworks established by Abrams remain robust enough to advance the party, even if she is not leading the charge.
“Stacey Abrams was highly focused on ensuring it wasn’t simply about her presence on the ballot but rather about her organizing work,” said Rep. Nikema Williams (D-Ga.), who chairs the Democratic Party of Georgia. “Countless organizations and a multitude of organizers on the ground benefited from the training and investment she made in the state of Georgia.”
Rev. Al Sharpton, who has close ties to both Abrams and Harris, believes that Harris will gain from Abrams’s emotional impact on Georgia voters.
“I operate an office in Atlanta for the National Action Network. Young individuals who were previously disinterested in the electoral process became engaged because of Stacey, and they’ve remained active because she gave them a sense of identity,” said Sharpton. “She was young and vibrant; she resonated with them. They became part of the infrastructure, which she had built.”
Nonetheless, some political analysts express concern that Georgia may not lean towards Harris. The polling remains closely contested, yet the 538 polling average currently shows Donald Trump with a two-point edge. Despite Georgia’s politically ambiguous status, Republicans have prevailed in more statewide races than Democrats since Biden’s shocking 12,000-margin victory in 2020.
Black voters — Abrams’ area of expertise in organizing — pose a challenge for Harris in Georgia. The state’s electorate comprises roughly 25 percent Black individuals, one of the highest percentages nationwide, yet Harris’s polling numbers among this demographic are not as favorable as those for Biden in 2020 or even Hillary Clinton in 2016, according to public surveys. Last weekend, former First Lady Michelle Obama visited Georgia, implicitly acknowledging the need to galvanize Black voters for Harris.
An increase in activity by Abrams in the campaign’s final days could be pivotal, according to Georgia Democrats, but the campaign has refrained from sharing details about where Abrams will be active.
Abrams holds significance for Harris for another reason: each symbolizes a different aspect of the Black woman’s experience in America. Harris, the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica, grew up in a progressive Northern California; while Abrams, the second of six children of United Methodist ministers, was raised in conservative Gulfport, Mississippi. After relocating to Atlanta, Abrams navigated the intricacies of Georgia politics to emerge as the Democratic leader in the state legislature. In contrast, Harris was mentored by the illustrious San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, climbing the legal ladder as San Francisco’s District Attorney and state Attorney General.
Since the 2020 election, Harris and Abrams have frequently been regarded together as pioneering Black women in the party. They have been credited for enhancing enrollment at HBCUs. They were both featured in speculative media discussions regarding potential Supreme Court appointments, which ultimately went to Ketanji Brown Jackson. Additionally, both were mentioned as possible successors to Biden before the commencement of the 2024 election cycle.
However, during Harris’s tenure as vice president, the two have rarely interacted in person, according to a POLITICO review of press materials and event archives.
The last occasion they were on the campaign trail together prior to the July Atlanta rally was in November 2020, when then-Senator Harris was campaigning in Georgia as Biden’s running mate. Abrams was highly regarded in anticipation of her 2022 gubernatorial comeback, though some local Democrats expressed disappointment with Biden’s choice of Harris over their preferred candidate.
Sharpton was among numerous Black leaders who urged Biden to select a Black woman for the vice presidential nomination. “I conveyed that to Joe Biden, mentioning that Stacey Abrams, Kamala Harris, or [former Florida Rep.] Val Demings were certainly qualified,” he recounted, recalling his personal preferences.
Abrams openly expressed her desire for the second-in-command position.
“I would excel as a running mate,” Abrams asserted in an interview with Elle Magazine. “I have the ability to attract voters by energizing often overlooked communities. I possess a substantial background in executive and management roles across the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. Having dedicated 25 years to independent study of foreign policy, I am ready to contribute to advancing an agenda aimed at restoring America’s standing globally. Should I be selected, I am prepared and eager to serve.”
Moreover, Abrams insisted on Biden selecting a woman of color as his vice president in 2020, stating on “The View” that failing to do so would be “a slap in the face” to an essential segment of the Democratic Party’s support base.
Abrams, coming from a working-class background, frequently connected her personal narrative during the campaign with the broader Black and Southern experience.
Harris’s upbringing in urban California as the daughter of immigrants presents a different aspect of the Black experience in the U.S., which Harris has largely avoided emphasizing in her campaign. Despite Trump’s attacks claiming she “became a Black person” — a false assertion — Harris has chosen to respond minimally to such comments.
Abrams, however, has been more willing to address the intersections of race and gender in politics, defending Harris against criticisms she deemed both racist and sexist during Harris’s vice presidency.
“We do not always embrace the new,” Abrams stated in late-2023 on MSNBC. “But, more importantly, I recognize that if one examines the critiques of her performance, they are inherently linked to her race and gender. I celebrate the composure she has maintained throughout.”
Following Abrams’s unexpected defeat to Kemp in 2022, her campaign manager and longtime associate, Lauren Groh-Wargo, attributed the loss partially to Abrams’s dedication to supporting other Democrats, including Biden and Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.
“Ultimately, Stacey invested her time, skills, and organizations into securing victories for 2020 in key battleground states and in Georgia in 2020 and 2021. In doing so, she also rendered the 2022 gubernatorial campaign against a well-financed incumbent nearly impossible,” Groh-Wargo mentioned in a lengthy post series on X.
The 2022 loss diminished Abrams’s political capital. This decline coincided with challenging times for her flagship nonprofits, despite her detachment from them.
Fair Fight Action, the largest of the nonprofits established by Abrams, allocated most of its fundraising to a comprehensive voting-rights lawsuit in federal court, which ended unfavorably. The law firm managing the case — partly led by Abrams’ former campaign chair and law school associate — received over $19 million over four years.
Groh-Wargo returned to head Fair Fight Action in January, informing the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the nonprofit was $2.5 million in debt and had let go of 75 percent of its staff. She did not respond to inquiries for this article made through her communication team.
Fair Fight Action continues to operate and recently claimed to have aired a TV advertisement highlighting potential changes to state election laws enforced by a Republican-dominated State Elections Board — although no record of the ad appears on the ad-tracking platform, AdImpact.
Fair Fight Action has not replied to numerous requests for comments.
Meanwhile, the formerly litigious — and often successful — New Georgia Project, another organization founded by Abrams, has experienced substantial turnover since the 2022 election.
Days prior to the 2022 midterm elections, Abrams’s selected leader of the New Georgia Project was dismissed and accused in federal financial disclosures of owing $27,127 for unauthorized spending during 2021 and 2022.
The New Georgia Project still focuses on voting rights but has expanded its agenda to include access to affordable housing, environmental justice, and childcare, according to its website.
The New Georgia Project has not responded to an interview request.
Previously, these organizations garnered significant funding but left limited space for smaller grassroots organizations. As millions poured into Georgia campaigns, smaller non-profits often found themselves excluded from the financial influx. Currently, these smaller groups are committing to bridge the void and support Harris.
Christine White, who leads the Georgia Alliance for Progress—which funds hyper-local and smaller organizations committed to year-round organizing—revealed that she had never received feedback from small grassroots organizations about receiving money from Abrams’s network, even though some donors believed the contrary.
The demand for increased financial support for what White refers to as an entire ecosystem of organizing — encompassing campaigns, party structures, PACs, and nonprofit organizations — has been a constant since Georgia transitioned to a swing state.
With just days until the election, the Harris campaign is outspending the Trump campaign on advertisements in the state. The vice president’s team was quicker to open field offices across the state compared to Trump. Democrats involved in the campaign assert that smaller nonprofit organizations are effectively addressing the gaps left by Abrams’s network.
However, whether Georgia will remain blue is still a contentious issue.
Abrams asserted to MSNBC during the Democratic National Convention in August that she believes Harris can secure a victory in Georgia, expressing that her campaigns have helped set the stage.
“Initially, the challenge was to foster, above all, the imagination: people believing this was a possible outcome,” Abrams commented. “Next was instilling the conscience: demonstrating the consequences of inaction. Therefore, I view my 2018 campaign as the imagination race, awakening people to the significance of Georgia. The 2020 and 2021 races highlighted the conscience, showcasing the ramifications of inaction in America and Georgia. In this latest campaign, which is our third cycle, we seek to present the prospect of change.”
