Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams has made history, becoming the first black woman in America to be nominated for governor by either major party.
Tuesday night’s primary was called early for Abrams, who captured more than 75 percent of the vote when the New York Times declared her the presumptive winner. Abrams defeated challenger Stacey Evans, a former state lawmaker whom progressive activists .
Abrams — the former minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives — ran on a progressive platform of fully funding K-12 public schools (and opposing school vouchers that send public dollars to private schools); enhanced gun reform policies like universal background checks and repealing some of Georgia’s most egregious pro-gun laws; and robust criminal justice reform, including the elimination of cash bail and providing the formerly incarcerated with a pathway to employment, housing, and education.
In addition to being the first black woman nominated by a major party for governor, Stacey Abrams is also making history as the first gubernatorial nominee who perhaps best encompasses America’s student debt crisis. As Abrams explained in an op-ed column for Fortune, she has accumulated approximately $200,000 in credit card and student debt as a result of obtaining her law degree from Yale. Abrams also opened up about her more than $50,000 in IRS debt (she’s currently on a payment plan).
According to Abrams, even though she made $95,000 a year in her first law firm job after graduation, her credit was damaged due to relying on credit cards to pay for daily necessities while she was in law school. She also spent most of her salary taking on her parents’ financial burden, who had taken in her infant niece after the child’s parents were unable to care for her while battling drug addiction. Abrams’ parents were already in poverty, making just over $30,000 between the two of them and dealing with their own medical debt.
After telling her personal story, Stacey Abrams pointed out that many women and people of color already struggle with debt due to systemic issues prevalent in American society:
In 2013, the average wealth per U.S. household was $81,000. But dig into the numbers and a clearer picture appears: White families averaged $142,000 in wealth, Latinx households came in at $13,700, and black families brought up the rear at $11,000. Asian Americans are closer to whites than other people of color, but they still lag. The combined effects of discrimination in labor, housing, and education have compounded the struggle for wealth among communities of color.
Stacey Abrams will likely face off in the November general election with either Georgia Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle or Secretary of State Brian Kemp, depending on who wins the July 24 Republican runoff.