Although some prominent Democrats still believe Stacey Abrams represents the future of the party, her track record as a political candidate leaves a lot to be desired.
She most recently fell short in her bid to unseat Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp in last month’s midterm election, which has apparently left staffers and vendors alike holding the bag.
According to recent reports, the failed Abrams campaign is currently more than $1 million in debt to an array of creditors with no apparent means by which to repay it. Despite raking in more than $100 million during the election cycle, her coffers began to run dry as Election Day approached.
She raised more than $100 million and still managed to end up in debt – after losing by 7.5 points!https://t.co/DMCtcEbILy
— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) December 19, 2022
Lauren Groh-Wargo, who has served as Abrams’ campaign manager in two failed races, acknowledged the financial shortfall but blamed it on a “cavalcade of negative press and negative polling” that inundated the campaign in its final days.
“We did not just lose, we got blown out,” she asserted. “It was the most sub-optimal situation to be in — and we will be dealing with that situation for some time.”
In addition to owing vendors a staggering sum more than a month after Abrams’ loss, reports indicate that the campaign also stopped paying staff salaries just days after the election. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, one former staffer was dumbfounded over the decision in light of the financial windfall that the campaign received from Democratic donors nationwide.
“I figured, $100 million?” the individual said. “They should be able to pay me until December.”
Another former staffer asserted that former colleagues have expressed concerns about “how they’re going to pay their rent in January” as a result of the halted payments.
When she first ran for governor in 2018, financial statements indicated that she owed the IRS $54,000 and was saddled with a personal credit card and student loan debt totaling about $170,000.
Abrams has also made a name for herself in leftist circles for her role at the helm of the New Georgia Project, which seeks to increase the number of minority voters in the state. As with her apparent campaign fund mismanagement, reports indicate the organization blew through the roughly $25 million it raised in 2020 and by 2022 was forced to cut the size of its leadership team in half.
While some might be inclined to write an epitaph for her political career, Abrams refuses to give up on her dream of winning an election.
During a recent television interview, she declared: “I may run again, but I’ve always said that it’s not about the title, it’s about the work.”
