If at first you do not succeed, humiliate yourself again and again?
That appears to be the motto of two-time failed Georgia Democrat candidate for governor, Stacey Abrams, Fox News reported.
The report said that Abrams, who was defeated by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp by a razor-thin margin in 2018 but was soundly beaten in a 2022 rematch by a whopping 8 points, is considering a third gubernatorial bid, apparently.
The Republican governor is very popular in his state, but because of term limits, Kemp cannot run again. But that said, polls show that the next governor’s race could be very close.
“Republican Attorney General Chris Carr has already announced his gubernatorial campaign in November 2024. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is rumored to be mulling his own bid for the Republican nomination. Campaign filings reported by WABE earlier this year revealed that Jones raised $1.7 million for a leadership committee – about half a million behind Carr,” the report said.
For the Democrats, the only active candidate is Georgia state Sen. Jason Esteves, who announced his candidacy this week. A previous candidate, Rep. Lucy McBath, said that she was suspending her bid to support her husband, who has had complications after being diagnosed with cancer.
Not all Democrats are thrilled with a third Abrams run.
“She’s run twice, and that’s enough to convince me she won’t win,” former chairman of the Appling County Democratic Committee, Jimmy Johnson, said to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He said that “some other Democrat” could defeat the dominant Republican Party in the state.
“Abrams is great, but she missed the train,” Marilyn Langford, a vice chair of the Georgia 9th District Democrats, said.
Abrams has many distractions and controversies surrounding her as well.
In January, a federal judge ordered her group, Fair Fight Action, to pay around $230,000 in fees as a reimbursement to the state of Georgia over her erroneous claims that Republican Gov. Brian Kemp stole the 2018 election in the state, the Washington Free Beacon reported:
Abrams founded the group after losing to then-secretary of state Kemp, who she claimed used his position to disenfranchise minority voters in the lead-up to the election. A federal judge in late September ruled against Fair Fight Action on all counts following a four-year legal battle, saying the group provided no direct evidence that Georgia voters struggled to vote in the election. Fair Fight Action must repay $192,628.85 in transcription fees and $38,674.86 in copying costs that Georgia incurred in defending itself against the group’s lawsuit, according to a bill of costs submitted Tuesday by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
“Stacey Abrams’s voter suppression claims were false. It has never been easier to vote and harder to cheat in the state of Georgia,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger said. “This is a start, but I think Stacey Abrams should pay back the millions of taxpayer dollars the state was forced to spend to disprove her false claims.”
For her part, Abrams spoke to actress and talk show host Drew Barrymore not long after, and said she would “likely” campaign again.
“So, what’s next? Are you going to run again?” Barrymore asked. “Do we get to look forward to this and galvanize again?”
“I will likely run again,” Abrams responded.
“Yes!” Barrymore shouted.
The actress suggested that Abrams would be campaigning against “some tough men who don’t always play fair.”
“Well, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. If it doesn’t work, you try again,” Abrams said.
After being defeated soundly in November, Abrams did concede to Kemp, but there was a caveat, Fox News reported.
“Tonight, I am doing clearly what is the responsible thing, I am suspending my campaign for governor,” the candidate said. “I may no longer be seeking the office of governor, but I will never stop doing everything in my power to make sure the people in Georgia have a voice.”
