Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has defeated Stacey Abrams in the Georgia governor’s race. Abrams acknowledged the defeat in an appearance in Atlanta Tuesday night, saying she offered “congratulations” to Kemp.
It was the second match-up between Republican Kemp and Democrat Abrams, a former state house majority leader, and the second time Georgia voted against electing a Black woman as governor, which would have made it the first state to do so in U.S. history; Kemp defeated Abrams for the governorship in 2018 as well.
After her first gubernatorial loss, Abrams’ star rose in tandem with her organizing strategy. She got significant credit for Democrats’ 2020 wins in the state in the presidential and Senate races, thanks to voting rights and engagement organizations she helped build starting a decade ago. After 2020 seemed to provide proof of concept, the impact of the Stacey Abrams playbook stretched far beyond her home state. Progressives had evidence that, by addressing barriers to voting and activating voters of color, they could swing long-shot states into their column. Still, now that Abrams has come up short for the second time, some activists are looking to untether her strategy from her candidacy.
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Kemp shot to national prominence when he refused to help former President Donald Trump overturn the results of the 2020 election. His re-election makes him one of the only Republicans to cross Trump and still keep his job.
Read More: Brian Kemp’s Revenge
As governor, Kemp last year signed into law Senate Bill 202, a sprawling elections bill that gave voters less time to request absentee ballots, implemented stricter ID requirements in order to do so, penalized groups who send absentee ballot applications to voters who had already requested them themselves and cut the hours of availability for ballot drop boxes. The new law also provided for more hours of early voting in many counties and earlier absentee ballot processing, among other measures. Republican supporters of the law say it improves voting security and this year’s high turnout as proof it hasn’t made it harder for Georgians to vote.
Read More: Millions of Georgians Have Voted. It Hasn’t Been Easy for Everyone
Abrams—and many other progressives—disagree, arguing it suppresses the vote. During her campaign, she kept returning to one refrain: “More people in the water doesn’t mean there are fewer sharks.”
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp overcame a challenge from Democrat Stacey Abrams, beating her for a second time.