It is official – former House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams is the Democratic candidate for Governor. After defeating former state Rep. Stacey Evans on Tuesday Abrams will be the party standard-bearer for the next five and a half months, which means it is now time for all of us who identify as Democrats to lend her our support.
She was not every primary voter’s first choice, however, we must unify behind Abrams as soon as possible. In a state that has been dominated by Republicans for nearly two decades, Democrats enter the next phase of this race with momentum – the GOP primary for governor has gone to a runoff. Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle and Secretary of State Brian Kemp are now forced to spend the next two months fighting over which one of them is the most extreme conservative candidate in the Georgia Republican Party.
For Democrats, there is no runoff, and there should be no fight. If we can unify now, we can help build our Abrams up while Cagle and Kemp tear one another apart. There are 60 days for us to deliver our message and build a coalition that can transform state politics in November.
If we fail to unify, we may very well see a repeat of 2006, when Mark Taylor and Cathy Cox were the Democrats up for the gubernatorial nomination. It was a close race – Taylor earned 51% of the vote and Cox earned 44% – and Democrats failed to move on quickly after the primary ended. Old fights were rehashed and fingers were pointed. In the end, Taylor lost to Governor Sonny Perdue by nearly 20 points – 58% to 38%.
There is too much at stake to repeat that mistake. Redistricting will soon be an issue, rural Georgians are still in desperate need of healthcare expansion, and economic mobility remains stagnant. A Democratic governor could change all of that. Additionally, with the ideas and proposals coming out of the Republican primary – mass deportation, oppression of LGBTQ Georgians, and restricting voting rights, to name a few – we cannot afford to let those policy positions stand in Georgia.
As Democrats, let us leave our small differences behind us. We all believe in a fairer economy, greater opportunity, and in diversity as strength. With those ideals in mind, we must work together to elect Abrams and make American history.
