Senator Stacey Abrams certainly has a ring to it.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that Abrams, who gained interest nationwide after conceding a hotly contested election for the Georgia governor’s seat last year, met with Democratic leadership in Washington, D.C., to discuss a possible 2020 run—for the U.S. Senate.
An aide told AJC that Abrams met with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee head Sen. Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) in separate meetings on Thursday. If she runs, Abrams would be facing off against Senator David Perdue, a Republican who first won office in 2015 and is considered one of Trump’s most loyal allies.
Though many Abrams supporters have made clear that they would like to see her in another 2020 bid—as a potential presidential candidate—Abrams seems to be focusing on her state. This week, Abrams gave herself a March deadline to decide whether she will run against Perdue or launch another bid for the governorship against Brian Kemp in 2022. Last November, Abrams ended her bid to be the nation’s first black woman governor amid allegations of voter suppression against her opponent, then-Secretary of State Kemp.
During that campaign, Kemp continued serving as the state’s chief election officer, which was so hotly contested that vote counting extended well past election day.
“We all understand challenges and complications; however, this year, more than two hundred years into Georgia’s democratic experiment, the state failed its voters,” Abrams said in her concession speech, pointing out that despite record turnout in the 2018 midterms, “more than a million citizens found their names stripped from the rolls by the Secretary of State.”
In an interview with WABE on Monday, Abrams outlined her considerations for her next political move.
“One, I need to run for office because I’m the best person for the job, not simply because there’s a job that’s open,” Abrams said. “No. 2, I need to run because I have ideas and the capacity to win the election and do the job well.
“And No. 3, I need to make decisions not based on animus or bitterness or sadness, but really based in a pragmatism that says, ‘This is the right thing to do.’”