When Stacey Abrams announced she was going to attempt a do-over to become the Governor of Georgia, Democrats across the nation rejoiced. Like with career failure Beto O’Rourke in Texas, Democrats love nothing more than a defiant loser, and Abrams fits the bill.
After getting trounced by over 50,000 votes by Brian Kemp in 2018, Abrams has been getting the star treatment ever since. She even went on Star Trek to play the role of “President of Earth.” Surely, given all the favorable press coverage and plaudits, she’d be a shoo-in to defeat Kemp in a rematch, right? After all, we’ve been assured that Georgia is now a blue state.
Well, you know what they say about best-laid plans and all that. Panic is now starting to set in among Democrats as Abrams continues to flounder.
How bad are things for Abrams? Despite all the issues with polls being biased towards Democrats (something I recently chronicled in regard to the senate races), she has never led in a single poll that I can find. From start to finish, Kemp has remained on top, and there’s nothing to suggest the race is going to turn around.
The reason behind that is simple: Abrams is not a good candidate. Just because someone makes the beltway media swoon doesn’t mean they have the chops to actually be successful where they are running. Abrams is brash, boring, and incredibly unlikable. She checks all the boxes for far-left wine moms in New York, but not nearly as many for your average voter in Georgia. Yes, Atlanta is a Democrat bastion, but it’s not the entirety of the state, not by a long shot, and she appeals to few people outside of her bubble.
Of course, no lessons are being learned. Instead, Abrams and her supporters are blaming sexism for her woes.
Some of Ms. Abrams’s supporters say her struggles are more rooted in sexism than any strategic misstep. She is running in the Deep South for an office that has long been elusive to women and candidates of color. If she wins in November, she will be the first Black woman and only the third Black person in American history to occupy a governor’s mansion.
“The picture of leadership we have, Stacey is like the opposite,” said Steve Phillips, an early Abrams supporter and prominent progressive Democratic donor who attributed her polling deficiencies to “just sexism.” Ms. Abrams’s identity as a Black woman is “part of the depth of the enthusiasm for her but it also explains the depth of the resistance.”
That would be news to Kay Ivey, who is the governor of neighboring Alabama, but Abrams is nothing if she isn’t shameless in her attempts to deflect blame from her failures.
Things aren’t going much better for Raphael Warnock, who has been shown trailing in the last few polls. Worse, his one attack line, which was that Herschel Walker wouldn’t debate, got neutered on Wednesday after both sides appeared to come to terms on the matter.
Georgia was supposed to be the one state in 2022 that be good for Democrats due to changing demographics, even if other states headed back to their comfort zones after 2020. That doesn’t appear to be happening. In fact, Georgia could see a significant swing toward Republicans that could have it firmly back in play come 2024. Running Abrams was a mistake, and Warnock’s issues seem to finally be catching up to him. If they are both defeated in November, it’ll be a good day for America.