Readers write

The case for Stacey Abrams as Speaker of the U.S. House

I spent years as political director for the Fulton County Democratic Party and was a director on Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. Now I’m on cable news six days a week as a Democratic strategist. If I had a vote for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, I’d cast it for Stacey Abrams.

Presumed incoming Speaker, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, deserves credit for keeping House Democrats together. With congressional approval at 14% in October, according to Gallup polling, voters are frustrated by high prices, corruption, and the status quo and are hungry for a new approach. Democrats should look beyond Congress for someone who can turn their new majority into lower costs for families and greater accountability.

Abrams spent seven years as Georgia House minority leader. She knew how to hold her caucus together, find votes across the aisle and move lawmakers from “maybe” to “yes.”

Abrams brought that patience to organizing. She helped register young voters and voters of color through the New Georgia Project, founded Fair Fight and kept showing up for other candidates after her races ended. Plenty of people earned Georgia Democrats’ victories. Abrams saw what was possible and got to work.

Black women won statewide races and built winning coalitions. They’ve earned the authority to set the agenda.

The Constitution leaves the choice to the House. Electing someone from outside Congress would break with precedent. Abrams has the record to justify it.

ROBIN BIRO, ATLANTA

Back to a nation of common sense and respect

It is uplifting to read the comments coming in since the election. Many of my kind of folks are expressing my thoughts perfectly. The sentiment I hear is that our government needs to get back to a reasonable climate so we don’t have all this bickering and name-calling going on.

It seems we have lost respect for one another and the laws currently on record. We need states men and women to debate and enact legislation, not barter with “I’ll vote for yours if you will vote for mine” or tack a piece of junk onto legitimate legislation. Each piece of legislation should stand on its own merit.

We are a nation where all our people’s needs are considered, but where one glove doesn’t fit everyone. Common sense would be a welcome guide.

RALPH D. EDWARDS, LILBURN

Millions voted to ensuring peaceful transfer of power

While on lunch break on Election Day, I took a stroll around the polling precinct where I was working. As I looked out on the leaf-covered roofs of our little North Georgia town, it came to me that all across the country, people just like myself and my co-workers were quietly going about the business of enabling their fellow citizens to cast their ballots and ensure their vote was counted.

In small farm towns and large industrial cities, millions of folks like those queuing up at our precinct were engaged in the process of democracy — making choices about leaders and policies that would shape their political future.

I was struck by the realization that Americans, regardless of party affiliation, ideology, ethnicity, geography and gender, were united at this moment in ensuring the peaceful transfer of power, which truly defines us as a nation collectively and individually speaks to what it means to be an American citizen.

No amount of cynicism, apathy, outright denial, or allegations of illegitimacy will negate the truth that, because of our differences and our diversity, we are united in these states.