Some Democrats Think The US Senate Is The Next Obvious Move For Stacey Abrams

As she prepares to return to a national audience to present the Democratic rebuttal to President Trump's State of the Union address, Democrats are urging Stacey Abrams to run for Senate in 2020, The New York Times reported. Abrams became a prominent national figure when she ran for Georgia governor in 2018; if she won, she would have been the first black woman to lead a state in America.

The New York Times reported that Abrams hasn't made a decision about mounting a Senate run. But that hasn't stopped Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer from meeting with her about taking on the Republican Senate bloc in Georgia, according to Politico. Bustle has reached out to Abrams' voting rights organization Fair Fight Action for comment from her.

After her narrow loss to her Republican opponent Brian Kemp, Abrams has been mum on her next move, but previous donors have been lining up to support her again, the Times reported. Charles Myers, a donor to her gubernatorial campaign, told the Times: "I hope she runs. That election was stolen from her."

A Democrat hasn't represented Georgia in the Senate since 2005, according to Ballotpedia. Despite this, even a prominent Obama administration alumnus is in favor of Abrams running. "You can be hurt by the outcome of an election, but not defeated," Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett told the Times. "And she is far from defeated."

Former Georgia Democratic Party chairman DuBose Porter told the Times that Abrams is increasingly warming to the idea of the Senate, though governor is her long-time aspiration. "A month ago, I would have said this is not something that she would really be considering. I would say it is probably a 50-50 call right now," Porter told the Times.

Abrams also met with Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chairwoman and Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto as well as Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California about a possible run for the upper chamber, Politico reported. Rep. John Lewis, a stalwart of Georgia politics going back to the Civil Rights movement, told Politico he would be a "strong supporter" of Abrams, whatever she chooses.

Georgia State Rep. Al Williams told Politico that Abrams hasn't made a decision. "The Democratic Party certainly needs candidates like Stacey Abrams, so there will be a lot of push for her to run," Williams told the political news outlet.

This echoed what Abrams herself has said about a possible Senate run. In mid-December at the TEDWomen conference in California Abrams was open to the idea of running for office again. "I am moving forward knowing what is in my past," Abrams said, according to WSB-TV. "I know the obstacles they have for me. I'm fairly certain they're energizing and creating new obstacles now. They've got four years to figure it out. Maybe two."

In early December, Abrams was still considering Senate and the governor's office. "Georgia is my state," Abrams told Politico. "And the changes I talked about in this campaign remain changes I believe are necessary for our state to continue to progress, to serve the entirety of our state, and that the issues that I raised remain urgent and important."