亚特兰大——史黛西·艾布拉姆斯(Stacey Abrams)花了数年时间穿梭于佐治亚州，努力说服民主党领导人、捐助者和潜在候选人，一个巨大的、尚未开发的潜在选民群体可能会颠覆共和党在该州的统治。没有国家媒体的关注，也没有来自国家政治参与者的持续赞扬来缓解这一过程。
现在都结束了。
在经历了包括2018年自己险胜州长在内的失望之后，艾布拉姆斯被认为奠定了组织基础，帮助民主党赢得了该州的两个参议院席位。本周的这些胜利推动该党在参议院获得多数席位，并紧随乔·拜登在11月的胜利，这是民主党总统候选人自1992年以来首次入主该州。
这一转变使艾布拉姆斯可能成为美国最受欢迎、最有影响力的非民选民主党人。这给了这位47岁的投票权倡导者相当大的动力，无论接下来发生什么——最有可能的是在2022年与州长布莱恩·坎普(Brian Kemp)再次竞选。
民主党全国委员会前办公室主任莉亚·道特利说:“我认为史黛西的下一步是他想成为的人。“她清楚地展示了自己的政治实力和规划能力——格鲁吉亚不是一夜之间就能实现的。”
民主党州长协会执行主任诺姆·李在一份简短的声明中预测了潜在的竞争:“坎普州长，你是下一个。2022年见。”
前总统巴拉克·奥巴马称佐治亚州是“基层组织不知疲倦、经常默默无闻的工作的证明”，并称赞艾布拉姆斯具有“坚韧、远见卓识的领导能力”。
这种赞扬来得很快，也很激烈，尤其是她的黑人女性同胞，在作为该党不受重视的锚花了几十年后，她们在2020年的民主党政治中的份额集体上升。“史黛西·艾布拉姆斯(那是推文)，”即将上任的白宫副新闻秘书郭佳欣·让-皮埃尔写道。
艾布拉姆斯2018年竞选顾问之一卡伦·芬尼(Karen Finney)表示:“她赢得了党内元老和党内贤明女性的地位。”。
前民主党全国委员会主席霍华德·迪恩称她为“美国政坛的勒布朗·詹姆斯”
“她有大量的天赋，并且有能力以一种非常强烈的方式集中这种天赋，”迪恩说。“所以当你得到这样的人时，你当然希望他们尽可能地被提升。”
周一，艾布拉姆斯站在民主党人一边选举拜登在前夜的集会上滔滔不绝地说，“在美国，没有人为投票权和党做得更多”。
“史黛西，你正在改变佐治亚，”拜登说。“你改变了美国。”
艾布拉姆斯是密西西比州人，拥有历史上黑人斯皮尔曼学院和耶鲁法学院的学位，他试图转移话题。
拉斐尔·沃诺克牧师的胜利变得显而易见时，艾布拉姆斯在推特上写道:“让我们庆祝自11月以来从未停止过的非凡的组织者、志愿者、游说者和不知疲倦的团体。”“越过我们的州，我们咆哮着。还有几英里...但是干得好！”
但格鲁吉亚在2020年的转变反映了她愿意在民主党政治中看到一个新的联盟——甚至在这个过程中与她所在政党的保守派作战。
管理艾布拉姆斯2018年州长竞选活动的劳伦·格罗-沃戈(Lauren Groh-Wargo)说:“这是一项艰巨的工作，但人们需要相信建立多种族、多代人、地域多样化的联盟——这意味着相信南方的黑人。”她现在领导着她的公平战斗行动政治组织。
“多年来，这根本不是一件事，”格罗-沃戈继续说道。“人们年复一年地告诉我们，不，南方黑人不投票，白人太辛苦了。”
本质上，艾布拉姆斯是在告诉佐治亚州民主党政治中主要是白人、年龄较大的权力掮客，他们在试图说服年龄较大的白人选民在南方向共和党转变几十年后重返该党，这是徒劳的。她坚持认为，缩小与共和党差距的途径是吸引新选民投票。在她的愿景中，这将包括从移植到亚特兰大地铁站的所有人，到不投票的年长黑人选民，以及不像他们的父母和祖父母那样保守的年轻佐治亚白人本地人。
2018年几乎奏效。
艾布拉姆斯赢得了民主党的提名，超过了该党白人权力掮客招募的一名州议员，后者不相信一名黑人妇女能在佐治亚州获胜。通常选举她以不到20，000票的微弱优势结束了对肯普的决选，这只是民主党通常不足200，000多票的一小部分。她拒绝了她的损失，以及她坚持认为坎普利用他的国务卿职位让格鲁吉亚人更难投票的说法。
将她的竞选活动转变为公平竞争，该组织继续登记成千上万的格鲁吉亚人。收盘亏损吸引了大量资金，包括亿万富翁迈克尔·布隆伯格(Michael Bloomberg)的7位数投资。其他团体紧随其后，认为格鲁吉亚是民主党组织的沃土。
民主党参议院领袖查克·舒默或多或少公开恳求艾布拉姆斯在2020年竞选参议员——同时一些支持者敦促她竞选总统。她表示反对，继续她在佐治亚州的工作，并将公平竞争扩大到其他19个战场州。据了解他们对话的民主党人说，是艾布拉姆斯帮助说服了沃诺克参选。
与此同时，艾布拉姆斯从未停止推动民主党人支持她在佐治亚州的努力，并在全国范围内效仿。
艾布拉姆斯和格罗-沃戈在2019年发给总统候选人、民主党全国委员会领导人以及党内顶尖战略家和民意调查专家的一份备忘录中写道:“任何低于对格鲁吉亚全部投资的决定都将构成战略不当行为。”他们写道，艾布拉姆斯2018年的城市和郊区非白人和白人联盟是“在太阳带不断变化的景观中竞争”的蓝图。
这是她多年前与佐治亚州权力人物斗争的全国重演，因为她主张扩大选民范围，而不是追逐前民主党人和倾向共和党的独立人士。
格罗-沃戈本周强调，2018年和2020年的一个不同之处是在农村地区成功地培养了黑人选民。“这是密西西比州和阿拉巴马州的模式...甚至俄亥俄州，”她说。
艾布拉姆斯是拜登采访的11名竞选伙伴中的一员，这一过程导致卡玛拉·哈里斯成为第一位被提名并当选该职位的黑人女性。当拜登考虑他的选择时，艾布拉姆斯再次设法重写了一些规则。
尽管包括哈里斯在内的一些竞争者回避了参与其中的问题，但艾布拉姆斯对这种可能性毫无歉意。
她在5月份接受美联社采访时说:“能否担任中尉以及是否有可能接任是一个能力问题，(而且)我会把我的简历与其他任何人的简历进行对比。”。
几天后，她在全国广播公司的“会见媒体”节目中解释了她的自信。
After years of work, Abrams takes victory lap in Georgia
ATLANTA -- Stacey Abrams spent years crisscrossing Georgia, working to convince Democratic leaders, donors and prospective candidates that a vast, untapped well of potential voters could upend Republican domination in the state. There was no national media spotlight or constant praise from national political players to ease the slog.
That's over now.
After disappointments including her own narrow defeat for governor in 2018, Abrams is being credited with laying the organizational groundwork that helped Democrats capture the state's two Senate seats. Those victories this week propelled the party into the Senate majority and follow Joe Biden's win in November, the first time a Democratic presidential candidate has taken the state since 1992.
The turnabout leaves Abrams as perhaps the nation’s most popular, influential Democrat not in elected office. It gives the 47-year-old voting rights advocate considerable momentum for whatever comes next — most likely a rematch with Gov. Brian Kemp in 2022.
“I think what’s next for Stacey is whatever Stacey wants to be next," said Leah Daughtry, a former chief of staff at the Democratic National Committee. “She’s clearly demonstrated her political prowess, her ability to plan — Georgia didn't happen overnight.”
Democratic Governors Association Executive Director Noam Lee previewed the potential matchup in a brief statement: “Gov. Kemp, you’re next. See you in 2022."
Former President Barack Obama called Georgia “a testament to the tireless and often unheralded work of grassroots organizing” and credited Abrams with “resilient, visionary leadership.”
The praise came fast and furious, especially from her fellow Black women who, collectively, saw their stock rise in Democratic politics in 2020 after spending decades as an underappreciated anchor of the party. “Stacey Abrams (that’s the tweet),” wrote Karine Jean-Pierre, incoming deputy White House press secretary.
“She’s earned her spot as a party elder and a party wise-woman,” said Karen Finney, one of Abrams’ advisers in her 2018 campaign.
Former Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean called her the “LeBron James of American politics.”
"She has just an enormous amount of talent, and the ability to focus that talent in a very intense way,” Dean said. “And so when you get somebody like that, of course you want them elevated as much as possible.”
On Monday, Abrams had stood at Democrats’ election-eve rally where Biden gushed that “nobody in America has done more” for voting rights and the party.
“Stacey, you’re changing Georgia,” Biden said. “You’ve changed America.”
Abrams, a Mississippi native with degrees from historically Black Spelman College and Yale Law School, attempted to deflect.
“Let’s celebrate the extraordinary organizers, volunteers, canvassers and tireless groups that haven’t stopped going since November,” Abrams tweeted as the Rev. Raphael Warnock’s victory became apparent. “Across our state, we roared. A few miles to go ... but well done!”
But Georgia’s shift in 2020 is a reflection of her willingness to see a new coalition in Democratic politics — and to fight even her party’s old guard in the process.
“This is a lot of work, but people need to believe in building multiracial, multigenerational, geographically diverse coalitions — and that means believe in Black people in the South,” said Lauren Groh-Wargo, who managed Abrams’ 2018 campaign for governor and now leads her Fair Fight Action political organization.
“For years, that just wasn’t a thing,” Groh-Wargo continued. “People told us year after year, no, Black people don’t vote in the South and white people are too hard.”
Essentially, Abrams was telling the mostly white, older power brokers in Georgia Democratic politics that they were on a fool’s errand trying to convince older white voters to return to the party after decades of a Southern shift toward Republicans. The path to closing the gap with Republicans, she insisted, was drawing new voters to the polls. In her vision, that would include everyone from transplants to metro Atlanta to older Black voters who just didn’t vote and younger white Georgia natives who simply aren’t as conservative as their parents and grandparents.
It almost worked in 2018.
Abrams won the Democratic nomination over a fellow state legislator recruited by the party’s white power brokers who weren't convinced a Black woman could win in Georgia. In the general election, she finished less than 20,000 votes shy of forcing a runoff against Kemp, a small fraction of the usual Democratic shortfall of 200,000-plus votes. She turned her loss, and her insistence that Kemp had used his post as secretary of state to make it harder for Georgians to vote, to double down.
Transitioning her campaign into Fair Fight, the group continued registering tens of thousands of Georgians. The close loss drew in plenty of money, including a seven-figure investment from billionaire Michael Bloomberg. Other groups followed, seeing Georgia as fertile ground for Democratic organizing.
Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer more or less openly begged Abrams to run for the Senate in 2020 — at the same time some supporters urged her to run for the presidency. She demurred, continuing her work in Georgia and expanding Fair Fight into 19 other battleground states. According to Democrats with knowledge of their conversations, it was Abrams who helped persuade Warnock to run.
At the same time, Abrams never stopped pushing Democrats to support her Georgia efforts and copy them nationally.
“Any decision less than full investment in Georgia would amount to strategic malpractice,” Abrams and Groh-Wargo wrote in a 2019 memo sent to presidential candidates, Democratic National Committee leaders and top party strategists and pollsters. They wrote that Abrams’ 2018 coalition of nonwhites and whites from the cities and suburbs was a blueprint “to compete in the changing landscape of the Sun Belt.”
It was a national replay of the same tussle she’d had years before with Georgia power players, as she argued for an expanded electorate rather than chasing former Democrats and GOP-leaning independents.
Groh-Wargo emphasized this week that one difference between 2018 and 2020 was the success at turning out Black voters in rural areas. “This is the model for states like Mississippi and Alabama ... even Ohio,” she said.
Abrams was among the 11 women whom Biden interviewed to be his running mate, a process that led to Kamala Harris becoming the first Black woman nominated and elected to that office. As Biden considered his options, Abrams again managed to rewrite some of the rules.
While some contenders, including Harris, sidestepped questions about being in the mix, Abrams was unapologetic about the possibility.
“The issue of being able to serve as lieutenant and possibly to step in is a question of competence, (and) I would put my resume against anyone else’s,” she told The Associated Press in May.
Days later, she explained her self-assurance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“As a young Black girl growing up in Mississippi,” Abrams said. “I learned that if I didn’t speak up for myself, no one else would.”
