Former state Rep. Stacey Abrams has ruled out a Georgia gubernatorial run in 2026 after two previous, high-profile bids.
Abrams served as the center of Democratic Georgia politics for years over her attempts to win the governor’s mansion in 2018 and 2022. After two previous losses, the Georgia democrat is finally throwing in the towel, telling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she won’t be running in 2026.
“Americans are in pain but they are ready to act, and now is the moment to reconnect to what is at stake and what is possible,” she said in a statement to the outlet. “It’s clear to me that the most effective way I can serve right now is by continuing to do this important work. For that reason, I will not seek elected office in 2026.”
She said she would instead focus her efforts on fighting “authoritarianism.”
“The antidote to authoritarianism and its harms has always been democracy; and I have long believed that democracy requires active engagement and staunch defenders,” Abrams wrote. “But democracy is experienced by the vast majority through the work of government — when it fails, we are all imperiled.”
Abrams became a national Democratic darling in 2018 when she sought to be the United States’s first black female governor, but was beaten by Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA). She sought a rematch in 2022, where she was resoundingly beaten by a much larger margin, in a cycle where Republicans underperformed.
Her behavior after the 2018 election harmed her image after she refused to concede the race, claiming that Kemp had improperly purged voter rolls, effectively stealing the election. She repeatedly refused to admit defeat, only going so far as to say that she accepted Kemp was the legal winner of the election.
Abrams kept her political flame glowing between the 2018 and 2022 elections by assisting other Democrats and fundraising for the party. She won plaudits for helping deliver Georgia to former President Joe Biden in 2020.
STACEY ABRAMS-TIED NEW GEORGIA PROJECT TO END OPERATIONS
Since her significant loss in 2022, however, her star has faded on the national stage. She most recently faced scrutiny over the work of her New Georgia Project, founded in 2013, which was fined by the Georgia Ethics Commission over its failure to disclose $4.2 million in contributions and $3.2 million in expenditures to Abrams’s 2018 gubernatorial campaign.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is widely viewed as the Democratic front-runner for the 2026 gubernatorial race. If successful, she would take the title of the first black woman to be elected governor, a title long sought by Abrams.