In 2018, Stacey Abrams swept the nation as the Democratic candidate to run in the Georgia governor’s race against Republican Brian Kemp. Eventually losing to Kemp, Abrams never conceded loss. She was in fact, the first black woman of any major party to clinch the nomination. While she’s not Georgia’s current governor, she serves the public in advocacy work.
Former Vice-President Joe Biden has become the Democratic presidential front-runner. Biden recently announced that should he become the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, he’ll choose a woman to be his Vice-President.
While many have floated former rivals Senator Kamala Harris and Senator Amy Klobuchar, I believe that the best woman for the job is Stacey Abrams.
While Abrams has the least notoriety of Biden’s potential VP choices, she’d make a good Vice-President. Abrams has a law degree from the prestigious Yale Law School and was appointed deputy city attorney in 2002. Beginning in 2007, she represented House District 89 in the Georgia General Assembly. Her constituents resided in parts of the City of Atlanta and the unincorporated DeKalb County. She also served on the Appropriations, Ethics, Judiciary Non-Civil, Rules, and Ways & Means committees.
One of Abrams’ first big moves as a minority leader was bipartisan work with former Republican governor Nathan Deal to reform the HOPE Scholarship program. Her ability to work with Republicans and her efforts at preserving funding for higher education will allow her to help Biden beat a Trump-Pence ticket. America’s current administration has used gaslighting techniques to divide the American people, but Abrams can use cooperation to overcome corruption.
Abrams used her strong, honest voice to fight a tax bill in 2011. According to TIME, Abrams was integral to stopping the largest tax increase in the history of Georgia. She stated that a Republican proposal to cut income taxes and subsequently increase cable service taxes would cause a net tax increase for 82% of Georgia citizens. Her research and advocacy on the issue stopped the bill in its tracks.
Many believe that Abrams’ 2018 loss to Brian Kemp was unfair.
Kemp was Georgia’s secretary of state, so he oversaw the election! Talk about a conflict of interest! Abrams, who lost the election by just 50,000 votes, sued the Georgia board of elections, citing allegations of voter suppression. It turns out that in 2017, as Georgia’s secretary of state, Kemp purged 670,000 voter registrations. Congress then investigated Kemp’s shady behavior. The loss wasn’t fair to Abrams, but she fought for justice in an attempt to reverse voter suppression, which demonstrates her strength.
Stacey Abrams has shown she can work with Republicans on key issues that matter. She’s a fighter who called out conflicts of interest and voter suppression in elections. In addition, Abrams worked tirelessly to ensure that she represented her constituents well and listened to them instead of tax-hungry politicians. I’d love to see Abrams run with Biden in 2020 to show America what a strong, independent woman can do.
Feature Image via Wikimedia
