(Headline USA) There was a palpable lack of self-awareness as failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, whose activism played a major role in the state’s 2020 blue flip under suspicious circumstances, joined another Democrat hopeful who has a history of election shenanigans—while complaining that she had been cheated of an election win herself.
“I come from a state where I was not entitled to become the governor,” she complained, “but as an American citizen and a citizen of Georgia, I’m going to fight for every person who has the right to vote to be able to cast that vote.”
Abrams was in Virginia as part of a desperate, last-ditch bid to woo support from black voters as Democrat former Gov. Terry McAuliffe sees his poll numbers sinking ahead of the Nov. 2 election.
McAuliffe’s 2013 victory shocked many forecasters due to the razor-thin margin of victory after he was widely projected to win in a landslide. Both his and the attorney general’s race that year came down to the last-minute appearance of some mysterious batches of votes—an effort orchestrated by then Perkins Coie attorney Marc Elias.
After refusing to concede her 2018 loss to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, Abrams teamed up with Elias in 2020 to use the threat of a lawsuit to force Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to change voting laws, eliminating normal signature-verification standards and other common-sense election integrity measures without legislative approval.
While Democrat Joe Biden ultimately won Georgia by a margin of just over 12,000 votes, it is believed that in DeKalb County alone far more than that may have been invalid for failure to comply with chain-of-custody requirements.
Several other counties in the state also have faced investigation, including Fulton, where Abrams helped install election administrators and temp workers through an agency tied to her activist groups.
Despite the obvious history of suspicious activity surrounding both McAuliffe and Abrams, they shamelessly took the state to encourage party loyals in what is likely to be a race full of foul play since the newly empowered Democrats in Virginia relaxed voting standards.
“We gotta get everybody out to vote,” said McAuliffe, a former a former Democratic National Committee chairman and longtime crony for Bill and Hillary Clinton.
So I guess we are in for no signature verifications in VA? Where the “Governor” goes anomalies follow. Watch VA closely. https://t.co/V4CPuSqJ9t
— Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) October 18, 2021
On Sunday Abrams urged black voters to turn out for McAuliffe, saying that what happens in the most watched race this year will “show the world who we are” in future contests with even higher stakes.
Abrams told the congregations that in McAuliffe’s first term as governor, he ensured that tens of thousands of former felons and others who had been removed from voter rolls had their voting privileges restored.
“I know you get tired of being called a bellwether state but I’m going to tell you—as someone from one of those newly purplish states—we’ve got to look to you for wisdom,” she said, referring to once reliably Republican Georgia backing Biden and two Democratic senators last cycle.
During a subsequent stop, Abrams appealed to her audience: “What you say in 2021 will show the world who we are in 2022 and 2024 and beyond.”
With her appearances at three churches in Norfolk—and later led a rally with McAuliffe outside an early voting station—Abrams was joining other leftist heavyweights in trying to ensure that a state trending increasingly Democratic in recent years does not flip back to the Republican column.
First lady Jill Biden campaigned with him on Friday. Former President Barack Obama is coming this week. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms visited three black churches in Richmond on Sunday. Vice President Kamala Harris, in a video to be seen at 300 churches statewide for the next two-plus weeks, calls McAuliffe “the leader Virginia needs at this moment.” Biden is planning his own visit.
Meanwhile, Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin, held a series of weekend events, including rallying Latino voters in the Washington suburbs.
Youngkin has largely shied away from outside Republican stalwarts, hoping to attract independents disillusioned by Trump in a state where moderate Republicans like the late John Warner long dominated party politics..
Youngkin also has not campaigned personally with Trump, though the former president phoned into a Virginia rally last week featuring Steve Bannon, a longtime Trump strategist.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
