Photo via: NBC News
On Tuesday night, former Georgia House minority leader Stacey Abrams defeated fellow state lawmaker Stacey Evans in Georgia’s gubernatorial primary race and became the nation’s first Black woman to win a major party’s nomination for governor. Abrams won 76% of the vote.
“We are writing the next chapter of Georgia’s future where no one is unseen, no one is unheard and no one is uninspired,” Abrams said during her victory speech. “We are writing a history of a Georgia where we prosper together.”
Abrams, who grew up in Gulfport, Mississippi, remembers being rejected at the gates of the Georgia Governor’s Mansion as a high school student during an event that was honoring the top students in the state, saying:
“In front of the most powerful place in Georgia, telling me I don’t belong there, that’s resonated for me for the last 20 years. The reality is having a right to be places does not always mean that you’ll gain admission.”
If Abrams wins in November, she will become the nation’s first Black woman governor, and Georgia’s first Democratic governor in 15 years – as well as the state’s first woman and first African American governor.
Watch her full victory speech below:
Congratulations, Ms. Abrams! Keep on blazing your own trail!