The Senate’s top Democrat still has his heart set on Stacey Abrams challenging U.S. Sen. David Perdue in 2020.
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said “it’s certainly not too late” for the former gubernatorial candidate to hop into the statewide race, even as Abrams has taken her time mulling a presidential run or rematch against Gov. Brian Kemp in 2022.
“I think she’d be a great, great senator and I’ve told her I think she could play a major role in the Senate the minute she got here and how important it was to the country,” Schumer told reporters Thursday.
His comments came as other potential Democratic candidates, including former Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson, have inched closer to announcing bids of their own.
Here are @SenSchumer's full comments re: @staceyabrams continuing to weigh a 2020 bid against @sendavidperdue #gapol pic.twitter.com/jeFoqagTUh
— Tia Mitchell, AJC’s Washington Correspondent (@ajconwashington) April 11, 2019
Tomlinson filed paperwork to explore a Senate bid and met with Senate leaders to discuss a potential candidacy last week but said she'll stand down if Abrams decides to challenge Perdue.
Former lieutenant governor candidate Sarah Riggs Amico and ex-6th District congressional candidate Jon Ossoff are among the Democrats who are also considering bids.
Read more: Inside David Perdue's 2020 race for another U.S. Senate term
Abrams has given herself an April deadline to decide whether she'll challenge Perdue and has met with Schumer several times to discuss the race. She recently said she could wait until the fall to announce a presidential run, leading some Democrats to predict she'll likely pass on a Senate run.
The delay has given Republican groups space to attack Abrams for being self-serving.
“Abrams has gotten so full of herself, she sounds like Georgians should be grateful for the opportunity to cast their vote for her again, if she chooses to grace the state with the honor of her Senate candidacy. Arrogant much?” the GOP-aligned super PAC the Senate Leadership Fund blasted out in an email Thursday.
A new Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll found that Abrams' popularity among likely Georgia voters has slipped since the beginning of the year.
About 45% of respondents said they had positive views of the former state House minority leader, a seven percentage-point drop from January. Abrams’ unfavorable rating grew from 40% to 45% over that three-month period, including among moderates and independents, key voting blocs that could decide the fate of the 2020 election.
Her strongest pocket of support remains in metro Atlanta, where 56% of voters viewed her favorably. Fifty-three percent of women said they supported her, down about five percentage points from January.
Schumer's comments came hours after the state's new ethics chief said he'd subpoena bank records from Abrams' gubernatorial campaign and groups that helped her raise money in 2018.
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