Stacey Abrams says she ‘absolutely’ hopes to be president one day

Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams said in a new interview that she hopes to serve as president of the United States one day. 

“Do I hold it as an ambition? Absolutely,” Abrams told CBS News. “And even more importantly, when someone asks me if that’s my ambition, I have a responsibility to say yes, for every young woman, every person of color, every young person of color, who sees me and decides what they’re capable of based on what I think I am capable of. Again, it’s about, you cannot have those things you refuse to dream of.”

Abrams, a Democrat who lost a closely contested bid for the Georgia governor’s mansion in 2018, has worked since then with lawmakers and other activists to expand voting rights in her state and around the country. 

She was tapped by Democrats in 2019 to give the rebuttal of President Trump’s State of the Union speech. 

“While I acknowledge the results of the 2018 election here in Georgia, I did not and we cannot accept efforts to undermine our right to vote,” she said at the time. “That’s why I started a nonpartisan organization called Fair Fight to advocate for voting rights. This is the next battle for our democracy, one where all eligible citizens can have their say about the vision we want for our country.” 

Abrams in the interview with CBS News dismissed comparisons critics have drawn between Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election and her criticism of voting systems in Georgia, which she said suppressed minority voting in 2018 and contributed to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s win. 

“Words matter,” Abrams said. “What I have fought for, and what I have said consistently, what even they will admit — those who are unhappy with me — is that I never once filed a challenge to make myself governor of Georgia. I have always ever fought to make certain that every vote got counted and every person got included.”