Stacey Abrams has spent months building her get-out-the-vote network. With Monday's start of early-voting, she hoped a little star power would send her ground-game into hyperdrive.
The Democratic candidate for governor got the celebrity treatment during a five-city bus tour with actresses Uzo Aduba, Aisha Hinds, Rashida Jones and Tracee Ellis Ross. Hundreds of Abrams’ supporters welcomed the group at its last stop in Atlanta, after visits to Macon, Albany, Columbus and Fort Valley State University.
“I am so happy I came here because I feel 100-fold what I felt before I came here. You’re the right person for the job,” said Jones, before turning to the crowd. “You can no longer say you’re vote doesn’t matter. It’s not true. Here, our vote matters more than ever.”
Abrams, a former Georgia House minority leader, assailed her rival in the May 22 primary, former state Rep. Stacey Evans, throughout her stump speech without invoking her name.
She criticized Evans’ stance on gun control, said she would be a better champion for the HOPE scholarship and touted her strategy to energize left-leaning voters rather than try to persuade moderate Republicans to flip parties.
“Do we run on messages that don’t tell us anything or do anything – and promise us nothing?” she said. “Or do we run on a new playbook?”
The roar from the audience let her know the crowd’s answer.
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