During an interview on MSNBC, Democratic candidate for Georgia governor Stacey Abrams, who is a former state legislative leader and current voting rights activist, ripped some of her opponent’s record on critical issues including abortion and economic empowerment.
Abrams also addressed failures in healthcare policy by incumbent Republican Brian Kemp, who is running for re-election. Republican officials continue resisting Medicaid expansion, although the tax dollars that would fund it are already paid, in part, by Georgians anyway. “For women in Georgia, this is very much a question of whether they’re going to end up in poverty in the next five years,” Abrams said of access to abortion. “Because women who are forced to carry unwanted pregnancies, they’re four times more likely to be impoverished in five years. They’re twice as likely to be on food stamps… We know that for families that have faced the issue of inflation, they care about housing prices. They care about whether they can afford to go to a doctor. That’s why I’m fighting for Medicaid expansion in Georgia and why we’re having conversations about a governor who makes his money in real estate and will not spend $400 million in eviction rental assistance to keep people in their homes.”
“This governor has refused to address the cost of housing,” Abrams added, discussing other looming issues. “He has said that he doesn’t want to upset investors by giving local governments control over helping control housing prices. I want to make sure they have the help they need… He doesn’t really talk about the issues that we’re facing in healthcare… If you need access to healthcare, it’s going to be more expensive under this governor. We’ve already lost six hospitals with his leadership or failed leadership.” Abrams also referenced a $6 billion budget surplus in Georgia. “My plan is to invest that money back into our communities, back into our families, back into our small businesses,” she explained. “My opponent wants to give it away as tax cuts to the wealthy.” Abrams has also criticized Kemp — as she continued doing during this interview — for his lax approach to gun regulations. Georgia has implemented rules allowing the carry of handguns in public without a permit, meaning previously required background checks aren’t being conducted.
Texas GOP officials have implemented similar rules. Certain law enforcement figures in that state expressed concern. In yet another policy area, Abrams also tore into Kemp’s record for voter suppression. Republican officials in the state have imposed suppressive rules around elections, including limits on drop boxes for mail-in ballots and new voter ID requirements alongside high-profile rule changes like restrictions on even giving food and water to voters standing in line at a polling place. In August, U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee declined to block those restrictions for the midterms. A broader trial on challenges to the changes is forthcoming. Abrams noted a Georgia case in which a homeless woman was denied even a provisional ballot — many of which contributed to Biden’s razor-thin win in Georgia in the 2020 presidential race. There remain no real-world security problems warranting a change in direction towards these electoral restrictions.
Watch her appearance on MSNBC below:
