Stacey Abrams, perhaps the greatest example of intersectionality bucking common sense of our time, is more than $1 million in debt to vendors.
According to Axios, she is facing the seven-figure debt despite raising over $100 million in her second (failed) bid to become Georgia governor. The sobering news was confirmed to Axios by Abrams’ campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo, who oversaw both of Abrams’s failed bids for governor.
As the report notes, the biggest impact that Abrams’s wild financial mismanagement has had has been to her staffers.
The cash flow had dried up to such a significant degree that Abrams gave most of her 180 full-time staffers a hard paycheck cutoff date shortly after the November election. For comparison, campaign officials told Axios that Gov. Brian Kemp paid his staff through November, alongside bonuses. Sen. Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker are paying their staff through December.
“I figured, $100 million? They should be able to pay me until December,” a former Abrams staffer told Axios. Ouch. You know what they say about assuming.
“People have told me they have no idea how they’re going to pay their rent in January,” another former staffer said. “It was more than unfortunate. It was messed up.”
In perhaps one of the more damning signs that Abrams isn’t fit to lead a coffee stand, let alone an entire state, Groh-Wargo told Axios that due to the difficulties in fundraising, Abrams resorted to selling her donor and voter contact databases to try and pay down her debt.
“We did not just lose, we got blown out,” Groh-Wargo said. “It was the most sub-optimal situation to be in. And we will be dealing with that situation for some time.”
Groh-Wargo also noted, “I would have loved to do a lot of things differently.”
Do you think Democrats will still embrace Abrams?
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No: 0% (0 Votes)
And look, perhaps if this was a conundrum exclusive to her 2022 loss, you may chalk it up to overzealous (albeit ultimately misguided) spending habits. But her 2022 failures, at both the voting booths and her coffers, was eerily reminiscent of her 2018 gubernatorial bid as well.
“She was running a campaign where there’s always been more money in the future that can fix the mistakes of the past,” Georgia Democratic operative Chris Huttman told Axios. He even went as far as to describe Abrams ability to run out of money as a “well-documented pattern.”
All of this ultimately leads to the question: Why did the Democrats pump so much time, money and resources into Abrams and her campaign? She — not unlike failed Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke — seemed to have had the most shine taken off her star post-2022 midterms. But again: Why did that star have so much shine to begin with?
Well, it’s because Abrams is perhaps the perfect (imperfect?) distillation of the far left’s most rabid talking points.
Black woman? Check!
Rabidly pro-abortion? Check!
Backed by George Soros? Check!
Hates the police? Check!
Mask for thee but not for me? Check!
Election denier? Double check!
Notice how not one of those oh-so-endearing characteristics mentions anything about actual leadership?
One final note about Abrams: Not everyone can be king, but some are ideal kingmakers. Abrams is neither.
The Georgia voter registration group she founded, The New Georgia Project, has been embroiled in controversy with a slew of corruption allegations leading to the dismissal of several high-profile executives.
This is all wonderful news for Republicans.
Despite her numerous failures and controversies, thanks to all those aforementioned checkmarks, there’s no reason to think Abrams won’t remain embedded as a key Democrat for years to come.
