For years, Stacey Abrams was held up as the paragon of a Georgia Democrat, with a national ID that could even propel her to the White House some day. But these days, so close to another election that could hinge on Georgia, she’s practically invisible.
“It kind of feels like she’s fading in the background,” one Democratic operative told NOTUS. “Like, not trying to be mean to her, but, you know, you lost a lot.”
Since her decisive loss to Gov. Brian Kemp in 2022, some Democratic sources in Georgia suggested Abrams was now more of a distraction.
“Stacey is just not a major factor anymore,” a strategist close to the Harris campaign said. “I mean, she’s a factor in her own mind. So let’s take that out of the equation now.”
It’s not that Abrams isn’t trying to be a factor. She’s been hitting the campaign trail for Kamala Harris and other Democrats, appearing at over 50 events, while also teaching at Howard University and working for an environmental advocacy group cracking down on gas stoves. But it’s been two years since her last political campaign. And as the party rallied around the vice president in Georgia, Abrams has largely been an afterthought.
On the surface, she seems to be hustling to increase voter turnout for Harris. But in conversations with NOTUS about how Abrams has been helping in Georgia, party insiders only had vague ideas — if any — of what Abrams was really contributing. They offered mentions about fundraisers or events they had attended where they might have seen her. (Most of these sources requested anonymity to speak candidly, or, as one source put it, to avoid a “pissing match” with Abrams prior to the election.)
Some Democratic sources weren’t very interested in talking about her at all. They changed the subject to the Harris campaign’s momentum, down-ballot races or voter turnout. One source, a former county chair, balked when asked if Abrams was up to anything.
“I hope not,” this person said. “She hasn’t been good juju in a while.”
Whether unwelcome or unaware, Georgia sources seemed to agree: She’s just not really needed anymore.
It’s a harsh reality for the woman who once led the state’s Democratic resurgence. Her focused activism rebuilt the party’s decimated infrastructure. Her prodigious fundraising carried her to 54,000 votes shy of the governor’s mansion in 2018. (Georgia’s Republican legislature later passed campaign finance laws to try and keep pace with Abrams’ fundraising.)
Motivated by the loss, Abrams founded Fair Fight, a voting rights group, and the outfit became a national fundraising factory for Democrats in Georgia. Credit for Joe Biden flipping Georgia and for Jon Ossoff’s and Raphael Warnock’s elections to the Senate was widely attributed to the work of Abrams and the organizations she helped found.
The irony is that Abrams has not, in fact, disappeared. Just this weekend, she joined a group to canvas three Atlanta suburbs on Saturday. She also joined Sen. Bob Casey on Sunday to canvas with volunteers in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, and then attended a virtual fundraiser for Harris. And on Monday night, Abrams hopped on CNN to talk about early voting in Georgia.
It was a similarly active summer for her, attending the Democratic National Convention, spending time on CNN and MSNBC, and launching a podcast and a new federal committee, the Speak Up PAC.
“Stacey has spent the past several months campaigning up and down the ballot for Democrats in Georgia, from state legislative candidates to Vice President Harris,” Abrams spokesperson Joshua Karp told NOTUS in a statement.
Abrams’ role over the past two years has “naturally evolved,” he said.
“For fifteen years, Stacey has been devoted to the project of transforming Georgia into a swing state through training, investing and campaigning,” Karp added. “Thanks to that vision and the efforts of tens of thousands of activists, today Georgia is a top battleground. Now, the evolution continues, as the state continues to add new voices and maturing organizations focus on expanding the electorate.”
Almost every source praised Abrams for her past efforts, saying she was a foundational piece of recent Democratic success in Georgia.
If it hadn’t been for her, one said, the party wouldn’t be where it is today.
Some sources also pushed back on the idea that Abrams has not been welcome on the campaign trail. She’s welcome, they said — just not essential. And a diminished influence is natural, a former Abrams aide said, since she’s not on the ballot and is focused on her work with Rewired America, where she’s a senior adviser.
“She cast a large shadow on this election, but she’s not playing a central role,” the former aide said. “Others have been able to sort of take on the mantle of helping lead here.”
There’s also the shadow of Harris, the first Black female vice president, who’s running to become the first woman to win the White House. That’s enough to draw the spotlight from anyone, according to Le’Wanna Tucker, chair of Fulton County Democrats.
“It’s almost like being married for five years,” Tucker said. “It doesn’t have the same sparkle or jazz that it did maybe four or five years ago.”
“Anybody who’s a local Georgia native isn’t going to have the same sparkle and pizzazz as Kamala Harris coming to town,” she added.
The Harris campaign didn’t respond to questions about whether Abrams is acting as a campaign surrogate.
After NOTUS contacted Abrams’ camp, a spokesperson vigorously pushed back on the premise of the story. He connected NOTUS with Georgia state Rep. Sam Park, a longtime activist in the state who considers Abrams a mentor.
“I don’t know if I’d say it’s a central role,” Park said when asked about Abrams’ current role in Georgia campaigns. “She’s doing all she can to keep Georgia blue.”
“While she may not be, like, the central figure,” he said, she “remains influential and impactful behind the scenes.”
Park specifically pointed to her continued fundraising work for Fair Fight. The organization sent an email ad bearing Abrams’ name and calling for donations earlier this week.
Abrams’ spokesperson also connected NOTUS with DeKalb County Commissioner Larry Johnson, a longtime friend of Abrams. Johnson said Abrams is definitely playing a central role.
“If you look at who’s called her, I think she’s been called by Vice President Harris,” Johnson said. “So her voice is still relevant. It has an impact.”
To understand why some Georgia Democrats would so readily abandon Abrams is to understand how Georgia Democrats have consistently known her. For years, as she gained national admirers, her relationship was frosty with some folks back in the state. The animus resulted, in part, from strategy and decisions made during her 2018 gubernatorial campaign.
“A lot of Democrats in Georgia think that we should have won that race,” the Democratic operative said.
When asked, Park confirmed hearing about friction between Abrams and other Georgia Democrats.
“There were members who did not like her leadership style because she was very top down,” Park told NOTUS. While he didn’t say any of that frustration had been because Abrams is a Black woman, he did mention that there was always “a bit of envy” from her detractors.
“Stacey was the primary,” Park said. “She built the infrastructure in Georgia by raising millions of dollars over a period of a decade, if not longer.”
Johnson similarly confirmed there were feelings of frostiness, but said it didn’t prevent Abrams from campaigning for anyone, regardless of her personal relationship with them.
Park also pointed to impatience among her contemporaries, who, after Abrams’ time in the limelight, wanted the next generation of leaders to emerge.
But then came her loss in 2022. The party looked at its defeated champion, and many saw someone past their political prime.
“The Democratic Party, you gotta win elections,” the Democratic operative said. “Look at what happened to Biden. Even if it’s looking bad, we’ll send you packing.”
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Ben T.N. Mause is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.