“Our ability to participate in government, to elect our leaders and to improve our lives is contingent upon our ability to access the ballot. We know in our heart of hearts that voting is a sacred right – the fount from which all other rights flow.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Do not allow setbacks to set you back.”
― Stacey Abrams
“The formerly incarcerated – returning citizens – often face a cruel irony in America. Having paid their debt to society, too many are banned from the ballot box that could help them dismantle policies that essentially extend their sentences.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Fundamentally, the solution to economic insecurity is economic prosperity – an achievable goal. But for anyone who has grown up without financial security, there’s a shadow that lies over even those who move towards independence: lack of financial literacy.”
― Stacey Abrams
“My mother grew up in abject poverty in Mississippi, an elementary school dropout. Yet, with the support of women around her, she returned to school and graduated as class valedictorian – the only one of her seven siblings to finish high school. She became a librarian and then a United Methodist minister.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Hydro, wind, solar, and biomass energy have economic impact across the state and, with collaboration and focus, can become engines of prosperity for more Georgians.”
― Stacey Abrams
“The marginalized did not create identity politics: their identities have been forced on them by dominant groups, and politics is the most effective method of revolt.”
― Stacey Abrams
“The manufacturing-intensive advanced energy industry promotes work for engineers, machinists, coders and installers, but also administrators, accountants, truck drivers, sales force, and a range of other occupations.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Leadership requires the ability to engage and to create empathy for communities with disparate needs and ideas. Telling an effective story – especially in romantic suspense – demands a similar skill set.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Quality educational care grows resilient children, provides support for working families and stability for employers, makes Georgia more competitive, and invests in the workforce of the future, beginning in early childhood.”
― Stacey Abrams
“To achieve our goals of educating bold and ambitious children, we must invest in enriching, quality early child care and learning.”
― Stacey Abrams
“At any given moment, we each face a barrage of obligations, often disparate and distinct from what we thought would happen when we woke up. From the tragic to the common to the extraordinary, life refuses to be divvied up into careful slices of time. No technology can manage to overcome the realities of reality.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Confederate monuments belong in museums where we can study and reflect on that terrible history, not in places of honor across our state.”
― Stacey Abrams
“There are racial and gender implications to how we think about what leadership looks like in the country.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I like to solve problems. I know it is a skill set, but it’s also an obligation. I grew up with parents who believe that you don’t simply complain: you try to find solutions and fix what’s in front of you.”
― Stacey Abrams
“We need to recognize that, whether you’re looking at Georgia or North Carolina or North Dakota or Florida, that the disenfranchisement of voters, the suppression of votes, cuts across every community, and therefore, it cuts across partisanship.”
― Stacey Abrams
“The consequences for failure are very different if you’re a woman or a person of color than they are if you’re a guy. If you’re a guy who makes a mistake, you get a second chance. Often, for those of us who are outsiders, we make a mistake, and that’s the end of the conversation.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Here in Georgia, we continue to grapple with our own vestiges of hate. The image carved into Stone Mountain, like Confederate monuments across this state, stand as constant reminders of racism, intolerance, and division.”
― Stacey Abrams
“When I began writing novels, I read Aristotle to learn how to perfect structure, Pearl Cleage to sustain tension, and Nora Roberts for characterization.”
― Stacey Abrams
“While my parents both worked full-time, we still grappled with the scourge of working-class poverty. But my entrepreneurial mother used her research skills to consult. And, along with my dad, she even ran a soul food restaurant for my great-aunt.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I like solving problems that seem intractable. That’s how I thrive.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Regardless of their parent’s income or zip code, every child in Georgia deserves access to a high-quality, affordable education.”
― Stacey Abrams
“By fully committing to our public education system and engaging holistically from cradle to career, we can guarantee that all of our children in Georgia, no matter their needs, have the kinds of teachers and neighbors in their lives that my mother had.”
― Stacey Abrams
“’First things first’ might be a cliche, but it’s a useful one that means prioritizing what matters most to you and believing there is no wrong answer. When it comes to figuring this out for yourself, the careful binary of work or life entirely misses the point.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Clean energy jobs can exist across the state and create micro-economies to support struggling communities. Local governments can use advanced energy to retrain workers and create local jobs, and the positive economic impacts can remain local.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Good romantic suspense can never underestimate the audience, and the best political leaders know how to shape a compelling narrative that respects voters and paints a picture of what is to come.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I’m going to continue to do the work we’re doing on voter suppression, supporting the work that’s being done by Fair Count, ensuring a fair Census count.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I know we have to have people of good conscience who stand up against oppression. I know we have to have people who understand that social justice belongs to us all. And that wakes me up every morning, and that makes me fight even harder.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I’m not going to fearmonger to win an election. I’m going to focus on the positive opportunities we have for a bright future for all of our families, where everyone has the freedom and opportunity to thrive.”
― Stacey Abrams
“The miasma of fear that is created through voter suppression is as much about terrifying people about trying to vote as it is about actually blocking their ability to do so.”
― Stacey Abrams
“In her second career as a minister, my mother defied a legacy of chauvinism to become a leader of our community, overseeing a church that served as a hub, offering parenting classes, a food pantry, after-school programming, and – in the wake of Hurricane Katrina – a lifeline to those ravaged by loss.”
― Stacey Abrams
“We continue to confront racism from our past and our present, which is why we must hold everyone, from the highest offices to our own families, accountable for racist words and deeds and call racism what it is – wrong.”
― Stacey Abrams
“My parents never ceased to struggle, but in witnessing their lives, I learned more about natural industry and leadership than in any classroom.”
― Stacey Abrams
“One of the traditional rites of passage for political candidates is the revelation of financial status – a catechism-like recital of money mistakes made and debts owed.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Money dictates nearly step of social mobility from the very first moments of life. How much our parents make often determines whether we go to college. It affects the jobs we get offered and the ones we can afford to take.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I grew up one of six children with working-class parents in the Deep South. My mother was a college librarian, and my father worked in a shipyard. I never saw them balance a checkbook, but they kept a roof over our heads and got all six of us into college.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I finished my higher education deeply in debt and with seven years of bad credit in my future.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I got into my first fight, Democrat versus Republican, in second grade. I won.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Part of the reason voter suppression works is we’ve created this culture that says you don’t challenge the outcome of elections unless the act is so egregious as to be absolutely clear on its face.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Where I think historians can help preserve and actually restore democracy is to remind us of how we got it.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Let’s be clear: Voter suppression is real.”
― Stacey Abrams
“From making it harder to register and stay on the rolls to moving and closing polling places to rejecting lawful ballots, we can no longer ignore these threats to democracy.”
― Stacey Abrams
“We must reject the cynicism that says allowing every eligible vote to be cast and counted is a ‘power grab.’ Americans understand that these are the values our brave men and women in uniform and our veterans risk their lives to defend.”
― Stacey Abrams
“In Georgia and around the country, people are striving for a middle class where a salary truly equals economic security. But instead, families’ hopes are being crushed by Republican leadership that ignores real life or just doesn’t understand it.”
― Stacey Abrams
“The basis for sustainable progress is legal protections grounded in an awareness of how identity has been used to deny opportunity.”
― Stacey Abrams
“When marginalized groups finally gained access to the ballot, it took time for them to organize around opposition to the specific forms of discrimination and mistreatment that continued to plague them – and longer still for political parties and candidates to respond to such activism.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Facebook captures examples of inequality and makes them available for endless replay. Twitter links the voiceless to newsmakers. Instagram immortalizes the faces and consequences of discrimination. Isolated cruelties are yoked into a powerful narrative of marginalization that spurs a common cause.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Antiabortion rules disproportionately harm women of color and low-income women of every ethnicity, affecting their economic capacity and threatening their very lives.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I am driven by a desire to see poverty end and economic security be a guaranteed capacity for every person. Most of the impediments or solutions are state-driven, not federally driven.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I do not believe in taking jobs just because the job is available. You have to want to do that job, and you should plan to be there for a while.”
― Stacey Abrams
“My life has always been about making certain I accrue the skills necessary to make my ambitions real.”
― Stacey Abrams
“My primary goal is to eradicate poverty; I believe it is immoral and a stain on our society. And so when I despair or get angry, I take the time to think about how I can best achieve that goal – and then I get to work.”
― Stacey Abrams
“As a writer and former elected official, I believe in the power of words.”
― Stacey Abrams
“We must use words to uplift and include. We can use our words to fight back against oppression and hate. But we must also channel our words into action.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Discriminatory legislation emboldens those who seek to make us afraid while giving those communities it hurts a concrete reason to fear. We must stay away from anti-immigrant legislation as well as so-called religious freedom legislation that harms our LGBTQ communities.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I do not Google myself, I do not read comments, and I barely look myself in the eye when I look in the mirror.”
― Stacey Abrams
“To make a good decision, you actually need to think about it, the contours and the consequences.”
― Stacey Abrams
“To build a truly diverse economy with a pipeline of skilled labor, technical college in Georgia should be free, and students should be able to graduate debt-free from the public institution of their choice.”
― Stacey Abrams
“We cannot expect systemic success when our teachers are underpaid and under-resourced, or when they split time being caretakers and counselors for our children as well.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I reject the idea of work-life balance. The phrase is a bald-faced lie, designed to hang over the human psyche like the Sword of Damocles, because balance presumes an even distribution of weight, of value. But anyone who has ever lived understands that no set of tips or tricks can create a lifestyle equilibrium.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Writing fueled me, and my task was to make it fit into my life. I practiced my trade as an attorney, and on weekends and holidays, I typed away. I assumed a nom de plume, Selena Montgomery, to separate my fiction from more academic publications.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Georgians understand obligation, love of family, and payment plans.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I’m proud to be a member of the creative class, particularly here in Atlanta where the entertainment and creative industries form such an integral part of our economy, our culture, and our community.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Writing is a side hustle that had previously enabled me to pay for rehab for my brother, purchase a car for my parents, and help friends out when they fell on hard times.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Progress is possible, but it is fragile – and across our country, the battles for our most basic civil rights rage on.”
― Stacey Abrams
“We live in a nation that spent centuries denying the right to vote to the poor, to women, and to people of color.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I grew up hearing my parents’ stories about how they had to fight for their right to vote in the Jim Crow South.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I grew up in a family where my parents worked full-time and still found themselves and their six children trapped like so many of the working poor.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Economic security can feel like an impossible goal when you’re living paycheck to paycheck, deciding between paying the light bill or the water bill, knowing the decision to pay either one may mean you can’t put food on the table.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Economic inequality is systemic, and one of the most effective barriers is ignorance about how money works beyond the basics.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Educating bold and ambitious children from cradle to career stands as a clear and foundational goal for Georgia.”
― Stacey Abrams
“For parents who work, afterschool programs can be a crucial support system, but too many communities have limited options.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Let me be clear: I unequivocally support a two-state solution as the path to resolution of the Israel and Palestinian conflict, with Israel as the national homeland for the Jewish people. Moreover, I reject the demonization and de-legitimization of Israel represented by the BDS narrative and campaign.”
― Stacey Abrams
“As a state representative, I have consistently supported our state’s investment in Israel and our vocal support of Israel’s right to exist.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Boycotts have been a critical part of social justice in American history, particularly for African-Americans.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I fundamentally agree with the critical nature of Israeli democracy, which embraces the core notion of free speech.”
― Stacey Abrams
“We deserve an economy that works in every county, for every Georgian, and helps families thrive – not just survive.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I have been privileged to write across multiple facets of my life: to write romance novels, to write memoir, to write about leadership, and to write tax and social policy articles. The act of writing is integral to who I am. I’m a writer, a politician, a tax attorney, a civic leader, and an entrepreneur. I am proud of what I’ve accomplished.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I like to take information in and let it percolate.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Where I know my strengths lie, for me, is establishing systems and protocols, finding solutions, and trying to push for results. The Senate is a great institution, but for me, it’s not the role that best suits those needs.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I will stand up on issues as they arise, making sure that the voices of Georgians are always being heard.”
― Stacey Abrams
“My approach to running for office has always been driven by where can I do the most good and where are my skills best applied.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Voter suppression takes different forms.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I believe we need leaders who actually want to lead everyone.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I’m a good leader. I’m a good executive. I’ve been outside the U.S. a few times, and I’ve done a little bit of foreign policy. But most importantly, I’m smart enough to be in charge of this country.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I’m not going to do class warfare; I want to be wealthy.”
― Stacey Abrams
“The ‘Next Generation’ and ‘Voyager’ are about even; I think ‘Voyager’ is mildly superior, although Picard is the quintessential captain.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I was born trying to figure out why other kids were just playing in a circle. What are you doing in the circle? Duck, Duck, Goose? What is the goose supposed to do? You could be organizing; you could be producing products that are for sale. You have a circle, but how are you utilizing it?”
― Stacey Abrams
“When you go after someone who has a deep ideological belief set that is contradictory with your own, it’s conversion. Conversion is hard. Conversion is miraculous. We have entire religions built around the idea of conversion. Politics is not a religion. Politics is about persuasion.”
― Stacey Abrams
“That’s just always the way my mind has worked, is taking something that seems impossible, or too big, and then breaking it down into these pieces so that I know how to get there.”
― Stacey Abrams
“My being a black woman is not a deficit. It is a strength. Because I could not be where I am had I not overcome so many other barriers. Which means you know I’m relentless, you know I’m persistent, and you know I’m smart.”
― Stacey Abrams
“My parents are ministers.”
― Stacey Abrams
“A guy can try something and not be successful, and it’s just about him. But when you’re a person of color, when you’re a woman, when you’re a woman of color in particular, you mess it up, and other people get tarred by your decision-making. You never act alone.”
― Stacey Abrams
“Many books that tell you how to achieve come from a privileged position. If you can’t see yourself in the advice, how can you use it?”
― Stacey Abrams
“I have a fairly hefty resume because I’m pretty aggressive about doing things that I think I need to do.”
― Stacey Abrams
“When people doubt your right to be somewhere, the responsibility falls on you to prove over and over again that you deserve to be there.”
― Stacey Abrams
“When I was in high school at the age of 17 – I graduated from high school in Decatur, Georgia, as valedictorian of my high school – I was very proud of myself.”
― Stacey Abrams
“We’re too often told that our mistakes are ours alone, but victory is a shared benefit.”
― Stacey Abrams
“When you’re focused on your enemy, then you are ignoring your allies.”
― Stacey Abrams
“I come from a family that hunted. I know how to hunt, but I don’t do it.”
― Stacey Abrams
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