Stacey Abrams Explains Why Governors Matter In Elections

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Tomorrow (November 8) is the midterm elections day and Stacey Abrams is fired up with information. Abrams shares that the numbers are looking good at the polls with Black men being the highest group voting, but says we need to keep the momentum. Nationally, she explains why this election is so important for governors. Republican officials have taken away reproductive health care, and are coming for affirmative action and other serious laws in place.

Abrams stands on the principles of faith, service, and education that she was raised on and wants to take that with her to the top. Hear why tomorrow is so important for us as a people in the interview below.

See below for a transcription of the full interview.

Rickey Smiley Morning Show:

Election day is tomorrow. First of all, good morning, welcome to the show. We just it’s so excited to have you on everybody was just like, when we looked on the thing and saw that she was like, oh, yeah, here we go. So how do you feel about this historic, just the historic early voting numbers? And do you feel like that has been a part of the fair fight, you know, impact?

Stacey Abrams:

I am excited about it. I’m, I’m enthusiastic. And I think we’re gonna win. Because they were counting us out. We were seeing all these stories about a lack of black enthusiasm. Black men didn’t care. Black men have outperformed every other demographic in early voting. They’ve even outperformed black women as a percentage of their turnout from a team. We know that our communities want to be heard. And the polls are a snapshot question is Who have they been taking a picture of? Because it’s not the people I’m seeing at the polls. And we know that the only poll that matters is the one at the voting booth. So I’m excited about what we’re seeing. But I know we’ve got to keep up the momentum. The other thing they’re saying is that we’re going to not show up tomorrow that we did, we did early voting, so we’re going to stay home, which is not the case. This is the first time Democrats have actually come this close to winning early voting, but we cannot slow down. We have opportunities to solve so many problems. And this isn’t far off. This is January, what I can do as governor in January, I can tackle affordable housing. I can expand Medicaid and people health care. We’re not talking to four years, we’re talking four weeks, six weeks, I believe.

Rickey Smiley Morning Show:

Yeah, that is so powerful. And you talked about early voting, and we’re seeing record numbers, people are really fired up about it. And we don’t want folks to slow down and think that they don’t need to show up tomorrow. And we know about what’s happening in Georgia. But can you talk about the national implications of these midterm elections?

Stacey Abrams:

Absolutely. So Raphael, Warnock is on the ballot with me, he’s the top of the ticket, we need to hold the Senate if we want vice president Kamala Harris, to continue to be able to issue those deciding votes that goes to tangi Brown would also got us billions of dollars for health care for education that matters. Governor’s matters. The reason this race matters so much is it Clarence Thomas told us, he’s coming after the Voting Rights Act. He’s coming after affirmative action. He’s coming after all of the things that states will now be responsible for. And we’ve already seen what happened with women, their willingness to strip women of their right to choose means that if you’re a black woman, 56% of Black people live between Tennessee and Florida, Texas and North Carolina. Almost none of those states have reproductive health care anymore. Which means if you’re a black woman, we’re already in the regions of the country with the highest likelihood of women dying from childbirth and black women are three times more likely to die. Unless I’m the governor. There is no reproductive care for black women, south of Tennessee. Wow.

Rickey Smiley Morning Show:

Wow. Well, let me just speak it into existence. Governor Abrams, after the presidential elections were over in 2020. Republicans got together and changed voting districts all over the country. How and will that affect tomorrow’s election outcome?

Stacey Abrams:

Well, Brian Kemp, and Brad Ratzenberger has been manipulating the laws and we’re seeing in Cobb County 1000 voters did not get their ballots. These might be students. These might be elderly folks. They did not get their ballots because Brian Kemp and Brett Ratzenberger changed the rules. Because too many black and brown people use absentee ballots during COVID. They changed the rules to let 65,000 People have the right to vote challenge, including a homeless woman who was sleeping in her car, and she got there to vote because she wants to be able to have access to affordable housing. They told her she couldn’t vote, even though that’s against the law. That’s who these men are. They do not care about our voting rights. They don’t care about our bodily rights. They don’t even care about our safety, right can weaken gun laws to win a primary. And we know that the people most likely to get shot in Georgia are black people. And this is true across the country. But what I want people to hear nationally is that governors set the tone and good governors can set the future.

Rickey Smiley Morning Show:

Right, right. We’ll keep it along those positive vibes that Brett put out there. Governor Abrams, if people run into issues while trying to vote at the polls who should they contact?

Stacey Abrams:

Please contact the Georgia voter protection hotline 888-730-5816 You got your phone with you, that means you also have the internet to just go to Stacey abrams.com/vote. And you can get all the information you need, you can text us. But the thing to remember in Georgia is that one of the voter suppression that if you are in the right County, but the wrong location, you can no longer vote a provisional ballot before 5pm. So make sure you check your precinct before you go. Because you can stand in line for three and a half hours. And if you get to the line, they’re like you’re in the wrong place, you got to start all over again, unless it’s five o’clock or later. So please get to the right place at the right time. But once you’re in line, day in line, you can vote if you’re in line by 7pm. You can cast your ballot. But we know that you guys have been on the show before I have energy, but I’m not usually this excited. I’ve seen the numbers.

Rickey Smiley Morning Show:

Yes, yes. I was. I was I was just you get the words right on him. I was just about to ask you. What’s the difference this time compared to this time than last time and the energy that you feel with the numbers that you’ve seen with the changes that haven’t that haven’t been made with everything that has has taken place over? You know, since the last election? What are you seeing?

Stacey Abrams:

So four years ago, I was brand new, and there was an excitement because there was history that could be made. It was also the first time that Georgia was taken seriously as a state that could elect a Democrat. I may not have gotten across the finish line. But we said Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Raphael, Warnock and Jon Ossoff. So we’ve had a pretty good streak. And while we have gone undergone a pandemic, and the energy is different, because we’ve gone through a pandemic, economic pain, racial violence, but people still know that they need the basic they need investment in education, we need to expand Medicaid in Georgia. So people get health care. They know that we need affordable housing, and the governor has said he’s not going to do anything about it. In fact, he shut down the portal that would give them access to rental assistance on rent day, he shut down a hospital on November 1. Yes, this is who this man is. But what is different is that we know we can win now. But we have to believe our own truth instead of the lies they tell us. I know we can win, because I’ve seen the numbers. But I’ve also seen the energy on the ground. And I’ve seen the reality of what happens. I was guessing about what he would do four years ago. Now we know. But we also know what I will do. And the last four years, I paid off the medical debts of 68,000 people in Georgia, I put 180 Wi Fi devices in rural communities so they can be on the internet during COVID when the governor was doing nothing, I help poor people, especially black folks in South Georgia, get vaccines when he said they weren’t motivated to take care of themselves. I’m always going to lead with the values my parents raised me with faith, service and education. And I want to be able to do that for the entire state of Georgia. And through that for the entire south.

Rickey Smiley Morning Show:

Well, I just want to say um, you know, personally, thank you for coming on. And thank you for all of the work that you’ve done. Thank you for for being you getting people excited and motivated and the things that you’re teaching. I follow you on Instagram, I share your videos. Let everybody know how they can follow you.

Stacey Abrams:

Thanks. So it’s at Stacey Abrams. If you haven’t seen my name, and it’s not for lack of trying safety, AVS, you can follow me on Instagram. You follow me on Twitter as long as Twitter exists. You can follow me on Facebook, I’m on I’m on if there’s a platform where they are because we want to meet people where they are. I want us to win because we deserve more. You deserve more money in our pockets, more opportunity in our communities in our businesses. And we deserve more freedom in our lives. And it’s going to be governor to make those decisions. And I want to be the first black woman in America to be a governor so I can make sure that our communities get what we need.

Rickey Smiley Morning Show:

I want everybody y’all heard it. Y’all get out and vote. Ladies and gentlemen, y’all Please give it up for the one and only Stacey Abrams. Thank you so much.

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