Stacey Abrams: I never denied 2018 election outcome
Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams insisted on Monday that she never denied the outcome of the 2018 race she refused to concede to Brian Kemp.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams again claimed that she never challenged or denied the outcome of 2018 Georgia governor's race she lost to current Gov. Brian Kemp.
Appearing on CNN’s "Erin Burnett OutFront" Monday, Abrams spoke about a federal judge shooting down the lawsuit brought by her organization Fair Fight Action which challenged Georgia’s election practices. Because this lawsuit came after Abrams refusing to concede the 2018 election, host Erin Burnett questioned if this loss would lead to her acknowledging Kemp’s victory.
"Is there any scenario under which you would concede that you lost publicly in 2018?" Burnett asked.
Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams (L) and incumbent Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) (Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg, Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Abrams replied, "In 2018, on the day I made that speech, if you play the beginning of the speech, I acknowledged that I am not the governor, that Brian Kemp won the election. What I said is that the process denied access to too many voters. And that was proven by more than 3,000 voters who made their voices heard of trial and a process that was the first full-length trial held on voting rights in more than a decade in the state of Georgia."
She added, "I have never denied the outcome. I have always questioned the process and the access. And I think it’s dangerous and disingenuous to conflate concerns about access and concerns about outcome. Outcome is about who wins. And no one is entitled to victory, including myself. I have never been unclear about the fact that I did not win the race. But access belongs to every eligible American. And it is incumbent upon every person at every level of government and in our society to demand that equal access to the right to vote be made available in this country. And that’s what I continue to fight for."
Stacey Abrams previously refused to concede her 2018 election loss to Republican Brian Kemp. (Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Abrams famously refused to concede the election to Kemp in 2018 and even suggested that Kemp, as Secretary of State, enacted policies to suppress Georgia voters. She has since denied "challenging" the election and has acknowledged Kemp as the governor of Georgia "under the rules that were in place."
Although the Democratic Party and liberal media have attacked Republicans for refusing to accept election results, Abrams has largely been a media darling for progressives. In September, members of ABC’s "The View" praised Abrams for her actions in not conceding the election.
"I have never denied that I lost. I don’t live in the governor’s mansion. I would have noticed," she said on "The View."
Stacey Abrams' Fair Fight Action organization's lawsuit to challenge Georgia's election practices was tossed out by a federal judge on Saturday (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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In 2019, Abrams addressed a crowd at the annual convention of the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network and said, "Despite the final tally and the inauguration [of Gov. Brian Kemp] and the situation we find ourselves in, I do have a very affirmative statement to make: We won."
Fox News' Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.