Despite having lost the race to be Georgia governer by 55,000 votes, Democrat Stacey Abrams will not only not concede the race, but she has amassed nearly 3 dozen lawyers to help her with an unprecedented attempt to invoke a state law that would let her challenge the results based on “misconduct, fraud or irregularities … sufficient to change or place in doubt the results.”
Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, Abrams’ campaign chair, said that her legal team is “considering all options,” which also includes federal court remedies. Some Democratic legal observers note Abrams would be dependent on statues that set a high bar for the court to intervene.
Abrams Republican challenger, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, has held the lead and is expected to be declared the winner on Friday, charged that Abrams has led a “publicity stunt” and her refusal to concede the election serves as a “ridiculous temper tantrum.”
It will be an uphill battle for Abrams, to say the least.
Saying the law “allows no further viable remedy” to extend her quest to be the nation’s first black female governor, Abrams announced a new voting rights group that will file “major” litigation against the state over electoral issues.
And she laced her speech with bruising critiques of Kemp, a former secretary of state who she said was “deliberate and intentional in his actions” to suppress the vote.
“I will not concede,” she added, “because the erosion of our democracy is not right.”
Kemp, meanwhile, thanked Abrams for her “passion, hard word and commitment to public service.”
“The election is over and hardworking Georgians are ready to move forward,” said Kemp. “We can no longer dwell on the divisive politics of the past but must focus on Georgia’s bright and promising future.”
The Democrat’s campaign was considering a long-shot legal challenge under a law that allows losing candidates to contest the election in the case of misconduct, fraud or “irregularities.”
She would have faced a tremendous legal burden to prove her case, and even some Democrats warned that prolonging the court battle would jeopardize two down-ticket runoffs set for next month.
The secretary of state could certify the election as soon as 5 p.m. Friday and cement Kemp’s victory in the tightest race for Georgia governor since 1966.
The latest tally showed Abrams is roughly 55,000 votes behind Kemp — and in need of more than 17,000 votes to force a Dec. 4 runoff. Georgia law requires a runoff if no candidate gets a majority of the vote, which is only a possibility because a third-party contender netted about 1 percent.
JUST IN: Stacey Abrams: "I acknowledge that former Secretary of State Brian Kemp will be certified the victor in the 2018 gubernatorial elections." https://t.co/NkJuIoh4fP pic.twitter.com/yAVL2s1uKt
— ABC News (@ABC) November 16, 2018
Can't nobody take nothing from you that you didn't win. Stacey Abrams, you Lost…..Now Move On!
— Diamond and Silk® (@DiamondandSilk) November 15, 2018
Who pays for these THREE DOZEN ATTORNEYS? SHes broke, owes lots of money has been in trouble previously yet she is able to cause all this trouble.
I guess she thought that if BHO, O and theNBPP came to Georgia in her support she was suppose to win. But, she didn’t. Lick your wounds and work hard to win the next race by supporting your Country.