Stacey Abrams is back on the campaign trail, just not for herself

Stacey Abrams’ name is not on the ballot this year. So, she isn’t headlining huge campaign rallies and sharing the stage with former President Barack Obama like she did in 2018 and 2022.

But in an exclusive interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Abrams said her mission to get more Democrats elected in Georgia and beyond has not changed. The result has been a quieter and more targeted return to the campaign trail.

Abrams’ role is now different. She is the celebrity endorser that candidates and groups tap to help with fundraising or drawing the attention of voters, especially young people and people of color whose support is crucial to blue wave Democrats hope will appear by the end of the night.

“My mission is to reconnect elections to how we save democracy,” Abrams said. “We have turned democracy into this heirloom that we admire, and we treat affordability as this goal that we have. And I need people to understand they’re one and the same.”

She remains a skilled political communicator who draws a crowd wherever she goes. But the rooms she campaigns in these days are usually smaller, with a focus on the audiences that play to her strengths.

Abrams has worn many hats over the years: state representative, state House minority leader, candidate for governor and a national rising star in the Democratic Party. She said her work this campaign cycle represents a new role but not a new task.

“In this moment, my responsibility is to support the ticket, to support the values that I hold to be important for the state of Georgia, and to do what I can to lift up candidates and ideas and issues,” she said.

While she may no longer be the candidate on stage, Abrams said she embraces the new assignment. And Democrats on the ticket this year say they have noticed her continued impact as they try to motivate voters in a year where the party could make the biggest gains in decades.

“I’ve seen, felt and deeply appreciated Stacey’s support for the Democratic effort in Georgia this year,” U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff said. “And I am enduringly grateful for her years of hard work helping turn Georgia into the nation’s premier battleground state.”

Get out the vote

Last week, a small group of content creators were invited to Gwinnett County where they learned how to make matcha then took turns recording interviews with Abrams to post on social media.

The event was hosted by the AAPI Victory Fund, a Democratic-leaning political committee focused on engaging more Asian Americans, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders in politics.

“A lot of these creators don’t feel seen, and this is their opportunity for them to have those moments with someone who’s directly speaking to them,” event organizer Cayana Mackey-Nance said. “That’s been the strongest feedback we’ve gotten from the creators is just having that intimate space where they can speak one-on-one to Stacey.”

Abrams has also campaigned alongside candidates in Tennessee, Alabama and Texas, mostly focusing on those running for state House and Senate seats currently held by Republicans. She has also lent her support in statewide or federal races, including backing Chris Harden, the Democrat running for the exurban Atlanta seat vacated by retiring U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville.

Harden met Abrams at a Marietta field office and later learned she had endorsed his long-shot bid in the open seat where Republican Dr. John Cowan is the favorite to win. When his team reached out about a small in-person event with clergy from the district, she agreed to show up.

“She’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m in the area. I’ll come,’” Harden said. “When she walked in the room, everybody stops and they light up.”

She posed for pictures, Harden said. She was gracious and affable. But she also delivered a strong campaign message that had an effect on the people there.

“You can tell she’s just a natural leader,” he said. “She knows what her mission is and what her goal is and nothing’s going to stop her from it.”

Abrams said Harden represents the type of candidate Democrats need to support.

“What I look for are candidates and races where, if we invest, if we are consistent, and if we continue to build, we could win if the headwinds are right,” she said. “But even if we don’t win, the work that goes in pays dividends long term.”

Republicans see their own value in keeping Abrams on voters’ mind. GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson and Gov. Brian Kemp have both mentioned Abrams on the trail, reminding voters that the Democrats on the ballot largely agree with her on the issues.

“I haven’t forgotten the fact Keisha Lance Bottoms and Stacey Abrams and the rest of the Democrats, there was a time where they didn’t back the blue and a lot of times they still don’t,” Kemp told the crowd at a Monday campaign event for Jackson in Perry. “That is what’s at stake in this election.”

Laying the foundation

U.S. Rep. Everton Blair Jr. waited for Abrams to cycle through interviews with creators gathered at a field office in Covington on Sunday. When there was a lull, he pulled her in for a video of his own.

Blair’s first run for office, when he became the first person of color and youngest member of the Gwinnett County School Board, coincided with her first run for governor in 2018.