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Georgia Gubernatorial Candidate Stacey Launches First Campaign Tour

Source: Anna Moneymaker / Getty

Stacey Abrams is a force to be reckoned with. The changemaker has stopped at nothing to ensure a brighter and better future for Americans through her previous work as one of Georgia’s House of Representatives and with her Fair Fight Action organization, an initiative that the Democrat launched to address the issue of voter suppression. Now, after a tough loss to Brian Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial election, Abrams is heading back to the race for one more shot at becoming governor during this year’s election, and  If she wins, the busy lawmaker will become the first African American female governor of the Peach State. It’s a tough job to take on, but Abrams is more than qualified. We’ve seen the former minority leader do the unthinkable from boosting voter turnout in Georgia to reforming the HOPE Scholarship program, a crucial grant program that rewards students with financial assistance in degree, diploma, and certificate programs, but here are a few things you may not know about the busy politician.

 

Abrams Paid Off Medical Debt For Families In Need 

In 2021, Abrams helped thousands of struggling Americans pay off a whopping amount of medical debt through her Fair Fight organization, $210 million to be exact. The steadfast Democrat relieved over 108, 000 people of their medical debt across various states including Georgia, Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana, and Mississippi, according to a press release. The charitable deed was done in collaboration with RIP Medical Debt.

“I know firsthand how medical costs and a broken healthcare system put families further and further in debt,” said Abrams in a statement. “Across the Sunbelt and in the South, this problem is exacerbated in states like Georgia where failed leaders have callously refused to expand Medicaid, even during a pandemic. Working with RIP Medical Debt, Fair Fight is stepping in where others have refused to take action,” she continued. “For people of color, the working poor and middle-class families facing crushing costs, we hope to relieve the strain on desperate Americans and on hospitals struggling to remain open.”

Fair Fight’s medical debt relief initiative was an extension of the organization’s efforts to promote full Medicaid expansion across the country to ensure affordable healthcare for Americans.

 

She Released A Children’s Book & Romance Novels

Back in December, politician and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams published her first children’s book called “Stacey’s Extraordinary Words.”  The touching story follows Stacey as she muscles up the courage to participate in a spelling bee. The young student grapples with mixed feelings of excitement and nervousness as she prepares for the big competition, but Stacey’s confidence plummets after she realizes a classroom bully named Jake might be her opponent. Stacey faces her fears despite the feeling of opposition.  This book is catered to children ages 4 to 8.

Believe it or not, the Yale University alum has written eight romance novels under the moniker Selena Montgomery. In fact, during her third year at Yale, Abrams penned “Rules of Engagement,” a love story that follows the book’s main character Dr. Raleigh Foster and her risky undercover work. Upon meeting her “sexy” and “brooding” new work partner Adam Grayson, Foster discovers that falling in love is the most dangerous risk of all.

Abrams published her last romance novel “Deception” in 2009, a gripping story about a woman who’s forced to play the hand life dealt and an FBI agent who calls her bluff.

“The act of writing is integral to who I am,” the political star told the Washington Post in 2018. “I’m a writer, a politician, a tax attorney, a civic leader, and an entrepreneur. I am proud of what I’ve accomplished.” Last year, Abrams released her political thriller While Justice Sleeps.

Georgia Gubernatorial Candidate Stacey Launches First Campaign Tour

Source: Anna Moneymaker / Getty

 

Abrams Has Created Not One, But Two Voting Rights Organizations

Before launching her Fair Fight campaign following her gubernatorial loss in 2018, Abrams had already been advocating for voting rights with her New Georgia Project. The organization meets with new voters to share information about how to register and how to vote. In September 2019, NGP helped nearly half a million Georgians register at the polls.

Abrams previously spoke to NPR about the initiative, telling the publication:

“New Georgia Project is part of a consortium of organizations that have been working hard to register voters of color and voters who are unlikely voters. We also have had easier voting processes made possible because of the Motor Voter Act being fully implemented in the state of Georgia. And so 800,000 new voters are an incredible number, but the credit should be shared.”

 

She’s The Center Of A Popular Documentary

Directors Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortés’s highlighted the freedom fight in the documentary All In: The Fight for Democracy which takes viewers inside Abrams’s tense and exciting campaign trail for governor leading up to the launch of her Fair Fight voting right efforts in 2020.

Abrams Has 5 Siblings

Abrams is the second oldest of six children. The activist has three sisters and two brothers, according to Oprah Daily. The star was born in Madison, Wisconsin but raised in the deep south of Gulfport, Mississippi where she lived throughout middle school. Her parents Robert and Carolyn Abrams raised her and her siblings under three core principles: “go to church, go to school, and take care of each other,” according to her website.

Abrams’s parents became Methodist ministers after pursuing graduate studies in Divinity at Emory University. Naturally, their studious endeavors rubbed off on Abrams and her siblings. Stacey attended DeKalb County public school. She later graduated from Avondale High School with degrees from Spelman College, the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, and eventually, Yale Law School.

 

SEE ALSO:

Oddsmakers Give Stacey Abrams Early Edge In Rematch Against Brian Kemp For Georgia Governor

Why Stacey Abrams, Voting Rights Advocates Are Skipping Joe Biden And Kamala Harris Speeches In Atlanta

5 Things You Didn't Know About Stacey Abrams  was originally published on newsone.com