Stacey Abrams qualifies for governor bid in Georgia

Former Georgia state Rep. Stacey Abrams (D) has qualified to appear on the ballot in the Peach State’s gubernatorial race.

Tuesday’s qualification was a formality for Abrams in her quest to become the next governor of Georgia. She is the most prominent name in the race to officially make it on the ballot, according to The Associated Press.

Abrams is the only Democrat running for the state’s governorship. On the other side of the aisle, however, incumbent Gov. Brain Kemp (R) and former Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) are entrenched in a fierce primary race.

A Fox News poll conducted earlier this month found that Kemp had an 11 point point lead over Perdue, 50 percent to 39 percent. Former President Trump endorsed Perdue in December.

Abrams sprang to national prominence in 2018 when she narrowly lost a gubernatorial race to Kemp by 55,000 votes. Since then, she has emerged as a prominent voting rights advocate and launched Fair Fight, a voting rights organization. She was floated in 2020 as a potential vice president to then-Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

She officially launched her second campaign for governor in December.

The Georgia Democrat came under scrutiny in February after she was photographed in a classroom around masked children without a face covering. Perdue released a campaign video knocking Abrams for the photo and she ultimately apologized for not wearing her mask in the photo, calling it “a mistake.”

Abrams on Tuesday, after submitting her paperwork for the race, said her current campaign will focus on the same key areas her 2018 bid emphasized: expanding Medicaid, funding education and bolstering economic development.

“When I ran for governor in 2018, I ran on a platform of opportunity for all, wanting to ensure that we expand Medicaid, that we fully and permanently fund education, that we build economic development plans that work for every Georgian,” Abrams said, according to the AP. “Sadly, those are still the issues we need to focus.”