Stacey Abrams rejects Trump comparisons

Seeking vindication after a stinging 2018 gubernatorial loss, former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams stands by her refusal to concede in what she calls a “broken” election system that saw her lose by less than 1.5 percentage points to Brian Kemp.

“I acknowledge that [Kemp] won, but I will never say that a system that is broken — that denied people their right to vote — is the right thing to have in the state and as part of democracy,” Abrams said in a sit-down interview with Yahoo News last week in Kennesaw, Ga., moments before a campaign event.

Video Transcript

MARQUISE FREEMAN: Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger last October wrote an op-ed and said, basically, because you did not concede in the election for governor the first time around, people are now losing faith in Georgia's election process. And it even gave way for what Trump did. Do you think that's fair?

STACEY ABRAMS: Not at all. When I did not win my election in 2018, the first thing I said was that I acknowledge the legitimacy-- I acknowledged the outcome. But I did say the system was broken. And Republicans agreed. They passed laws in the very next legislative session fixing many of the issues that we pointed out.

I've never once sued to make myself the governor-- not once. But I have sued to make certain that every Georgian has equal access to the polls, that they have the right to vote. And it is deeply concerning to me that a secretary of state doesn't understand the difference between the lies being told by Donald Trump and the truth that Republicans acknowledged in the complaints that we raised about the electoral system in Georgia.