Stacey Abrams Responds After Ga. Secretary of State Blasted Her Over Election Fraud Claims

Stacey Abrams refuted criticism from Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger that drew similarities between the former gubernatorial candidate’s 2018 election challenges and Donald Trump‘s current push to undermine results of this year’s presidential race.

Speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper during an appearance Sunday on State of the Union, Abrams addressed a series of claims offered by Raffensperger in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, noting: “He’s never listened to what I said.”

The Republican official, who has chief authority over election matters in Georgia, suggested that Trump’s present efforts to contradict his loss to President-elect Joe Biden fell in line with Abrams’ actions after her loss to now-Governor Brian Kemp in 2018.

“Establishing a playbook that President Trump is following to the letter now, Ms. Abrams refused to concede, announced that she would launch major litigation against Georgia’s election system, and began collecting hundreds of millions of dollars from donors convinced the election had been stolen from her,” wrote Raffensperger, who has become a favored target among Republicans alleging, without evidence, that the presidential election’s outcome is illegitimate.

In response to Raffensperger’s criticism of her, Abrams told Tapper on Sunday: “I said that the election was stolen from Georgia voters because, under the previous secretary of state, Brian Kemp…1.4 million voters were purged from the rolls, thousands of voters were denied the right to vote because of exact match,”

“There were thousands of voters that were rejected through an absentee ballot and a provisional ballot process that was not equal,” she continued. “And what he is complaining about are the losses that we filed that successfully fixed those challenges.”

Following the 2018 gubernatorial election, Abrams acknowledged that Kemp “would be certified as the victor” during a public address that replaced a formal concession speech, Quartz reported. She clarified the address was “not a speech of concession.”

“Concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true or proper. As a woman of conscience and faith, I cannot concede. But my assessment is that the law currently allows no further viable remedy,” Abrams said at the time.

In the speech, she alleged massive voter suppression in Georgia contributed to the gubernatorial election’s outcome, which subsequent investigations found to be true.

Trump’s ongoing attempts to challenge the outcome of November’s presidential election, by way of numerous lawsuits accusing state and local officials of misconduct and fraud, are widely discredited. The vast majority of his campaign’s legal actions, including several aiming to overturn Georgia’s certified results for Biden, have already been dismissed in court.

“There is absolutely nothing commensurate between what I have done and what Donald Trump is trying to do,” Abrams said Sunday. “My mission has been very clear since I was 17. And that is expanding access to the right to vote for those who are entitled to vote in our country, and especially in the state of Georgia.”

Newsweek reached out to Raffensperger’s office for comments, but did not receive replies in time for publication.

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