Georgia Republicans Launch ‘Stop Stacey’ to Counter Abrams’ 2022 Organizing
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Republicans in Georgia have had just about enough of Stacey Abrams it seems.
The Democratic activist and media darling has been lauded by liberal leaders for helping President Joe Biden turn Georgia blue in November and following that up by electing two left-wing U.S. senators in January, giving Democrats control of all elected levers of power in Washington D.C.
On Monday, a group of Republican strategists in Georgia and elsewhere announced the formation of Stop Stacey, which they describe as a “national, grassroots organization of engaged conservatives” that will “stand up to the left and prevent a complete left-wing takeover of Georgia – and America – in 2022.”
According to a menacing video on the website StopStacey.org, the group’s intent is to: “Stop higher taxes. Stop government healthcare takeover. Stop the assault on election integrity. Stop the radical left. Stop the new DC swamp. Stop Stacey Abrams.”
Biden has praised Abrams’ work in Georgia, saying “nobody in America has done more” to help the Democrats in 2020. Georgia Republicans also begrudgingly acknowledge that Abrams changed the game in the state, while some in their party grew complacent.
“She’s built a network, an infrastructure in terms of voter mobilization efforts on the ground here in Georgia that has made life very difficult for Republicans,” said Stephen Lawson, a spokesman for Stop Stacey. “From registration to mobilization, and really the ground game as well, she’s made Georgia a purple state, so it’s incumbent on us to push back, and to mobilize our supporters, our base, as well as communicating to independent and swing voters just about how radical her record is.”
Lawson said the group’s focus will be on exposing Abram’s liberal record in the media and through advertising, conducting opposition research, holding events, and letting Georgians know about the “deep and extensive, shady network of Hollywood elites and liberal billionaires like George Soros who are financing her operations.”
“We’re going to be fighting back and punching back very hard,” Lawson said.
The existence of the new organization, and its focus on a single un-elected activist, shows how concerned Republicans are about Abrams’ efforts heading into 2022. After losing her race for Governor to Republican Brian Kemp in 2018 (though she didn’t concede, claiming the election was stolen from Georgia voters), Abrams’ Fair Fight political action committee raised about $95 million dollars from 550,000 donors to benefit Democratic candidates. Abrams’ New Georgia Project, a voter registration group, claims to have registered “over 500,000 Georgians and counting,” according to its website.
That group is under investigation by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for allegations that it and other groups aggressively attempted to register ineligible, out-of-state and deceased voters. “I have issued clear warnings several times to groups and individuals working to undermine the integrity of elections in Georgia through false and fraudulent registrations,” Raffensperger said in an early-December news release.
New Georgia Project leaders have called the allegations nonsense.
Georgia has a lot at stake next year. Abrams is expected to make another run for governor against Kemp, who has been attacked by former President Donald Trump for not doing enough to overturn the November election. Republicans also will have a shot to unseat Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, who won a special election in January.
A number of Kemp-aligned operatives are working with Stop Stacey, which is an outside political group. Lawson said their goal is to stop Abrams from taking her efforts to the national stage.
“We know that Stacey Abrams, she has said she has national aspirations,” Lawson said. “We know that she ultimately has even bigger aspirations than running for governor. This is the next step on her political ladder. She’s been unsuccessful to this point herself, and our goal is to make sure it stays that way.”
