Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams responded to criticism that she failed to properly concede the 2018 governors race on this week’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday.”
Partial transcript as follows:
SHANNON BREAM: OK. And that case has been going since 2018. So, let’s talk about what you had in 2019 about that race and then we’ll talk about now. Here’s the statement.
ABRAMS: We had the election back in 2018, and despite the final tally and the inauguration and situation we find ourselves in, I do have one very affirmative statement to make, we won.
BREAM: So, that was then. This is now. Will you characterize a win by the governor, if he is reelected with more votes in his column as legitimate this time around?
ABRAMS: In 2018, I acknowledged that he was the victor of the vote and if you listen to the next 18 minutes of that speech and I did this morning actually, I spent a great deal of time explaining that when I say we won, I’m speaking to the National Action Network, which works with marginalized and disadvantaged groups.
And my expressed purpose was saying to them that by having candidates actually pay attention to our needs, the way I’m going to the APRT (ph) and talking about access issues because of language barriers, the way I’m doing talking to black and brown voters talking about access to capital, the way I’m going to Latino voters, talking about the fact that they have their most likely to have not access to health care, that the responsibilities of any candidate and more importantly any governor is to serve their needs and that our campaign proved that we won by getting more people involved in the process. Repeatedly in that very same speech, as you fast forward any amount of time, I’m clearly laying out the challenges that our voters face and the challenges our citizens face when they we do not have government to feed them.
I acknowledged that Brian Kemp won. I acknowledged it actually repeatedly in that speech. I’m very clearly saying, I know I’m not the governor.
But what I will not do is allow the lack of nuance in our conversations to go and obfuscate the challenges faced by our citizens. Georgians are facing terrible hardships and though there are some who are doing well, there are so many more who need access to healthcare and we’re about to lose the sixth hospital under these governor, who are facing affordable housing challenges and he says he doesn’t want to disturb investors. They are watching their freedoms being stripped away and he calls it a personal choice with Herschel Walker, but not a personal choice for the millions of Georgia women who need to access to abortion care.
Across the board, my side will always be to stand up for Georgians, to stand up for Georgian voters, and I will always say that when we make progress, that is a victory we should claim because for too long, our progress was denied.
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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