What did Stacey Abrams do wrong/was she overrated all along?

[Woody]

I think it's likely to say she's not winning this year, getting dumpstered in the polls and underperforming Warnock by considerable margins. Not long ago she was seen as a rising star and A+ candidate.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

Her throwing a bit of a tantrum after 2018 didn't help, but moderates like Kemp probably just because he did the bare minimum of not overturning the election results in 2020.

[Roll Roons]

Kemp ended up being a tougher opponent than people assumed. The fact that he easily beat back a Trump-endorsed primary challenge has given him a lot of credibility with independents and even some Democrats.

Abrams also has her own issues (her maskless photo in the school, refusing to concede the 2018 election, her very transparent presidential ambitions despite having never held an office higher than State House Minority Leader).

[Pollster]

The refusal to concede in 2018 has been a major turn off to independents/swing voters and even some softer Democrats as we've seen in some of the qual we've done.

Kemp also expertly used the primary to solidify his brand going into the general election - you could write a book on how well he played that.

[GALeftist]

My hot take is that she's probably underrated as of now

[Spectator]

Take it from a Warnock-Kemp voter: she thinks she’s above Georgia. It’s quite clear she views herself as POTUS in waiting, and it’s very off-putting. Her behavior after the 2018 election is another big reason why I’m repulsed too.

[Woody]

Take it from a Warnock-Kemp voter....

Might as well say you're voting for Dianne Feinstein or Chuck Schumer

[Spectator]

Take it from a Warnock-Kemp voter....

Might as well say you're voting for Dianne Feinstein or Chuck Schumer

Might as well ____  my ____.

[Ferguson97]

She has very transparent presidential ambitions and doesn't come across as a moderate.

[ProgressiveModerate]

Warnock def comes off as more down to earth than Abrams, who may have become a bit of damaged goods at this point. Also just by surging an ultra Trump primary challenger Kemp can play a bit of the moderate/sane card.

I personally doubt we’ll see as big of a split as polls suggests though, especially in a state like Georgeiia

[SnowLabrador]

In addition to what others here have said, I don't think the statement about Georgia being the worst state to live in is doing her any favors, even if she did bring up fair points there.

[Rookie Yinzer]

We're writing political obituaries seven weeks before the election? K.

[Pericles]

Kemp could pretty plausibly be forced into a runoff, even though he has the lead right now.

[Lumine]

Just a thought to add to the list, but I wonder if the not so subtle push to become Biden's running mate counts. I remember some were rather annoyed by it back in 2020.

[Progressive Pessimist]

It's possible that the environment of 2018 and the changing demographics of Georgia were why the 2018 election was as close as it was more so than any candidate strength of hers. I also agree that her reaction to the results of the 2018 election, even if justified due to Kemp still being the Secretary of State and how he affected voting laws, wasn't too helpful either. Not to mention her coming across as fairly over-ambitious at times. She was great at running turnout operations for other Democrats in 2020 and 2021, but it was probably a mistake to assume that would translate to her own candidacy. Even though she'll lose still has a future in the state just for that reason alone.

Combine that with Kemp's probably competently perceived handling of the recent economy and showing relative courage in standing up to Trump and other election deniers, and his apparent popularity and bona fides as a somewhat sane Republican and it shows why we're getting the polls of this race we are.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Doomers and it's not even time to vote yet and Early vote is getting underway plse make this thread after Eday

[Interlocutor is just not there yet]

I view Beto & Stacey as two sides of the same coin and I find it interesting how much the pendulum swings between them over the years.

This time in 2020, Beto was seen as incredibly annoying and 'overrated' while Stacey was receiving praise for her voter outreach in Georgia. Now, Stacey is seen as incredibly annoying and 'overrated' while Beto seems to be winning some folks over again with his gubernatorial run.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Be advised GA is a Runoff state and both Beto and Abrams haven't lost yet

[Senator Incitatus]

I think Abrams both destroyed her reputation by refusing to concede and was "overrated" in the first place due to her really excellent manipulation of media coverage, presumably through a strong personal network. This only makes her overrated insofar as she can't back it up with results, but it is an excellent skill/tool for any politician to have. It would be more accurate to say her political talent was paper-thin and has worn through.

[GoTfan]

Honestly, I think she's proven to be a better organiser than candidate. Seriously, at Biden victory celebrations in Georgia, she had people going around with clipboards to register them for the Senate runoffs. She wasted zero time.

As a candidate, she's not the best. I do however think she has the potential to be the best DNC Chair since Howard Dean.

[bagelman]

Take it from a Warnock-Kemp voter: she thinks she’s above Georgia. It’s quite clear she views herself as POTUS in waiting, and it’s very off-putting. Her behavior after the 2018 election is another big reason why I’m repulsed too.

I watched her speech during the certification of electoral votes for Biden/Harris in December 2020 and for some reason I found her speech weird. She seemed to be trying and stopping herself from giving an acceptance speech she wasn't able to give in 2018.

[Orser67]

I'm not particularly a fan of Abrams and was a little irked at both her refusal to concede and how much credit people gave her for Georgia voting Democratic in 2020. But the state of the race is probably more about the fact that she's running against a reasonably popular incumbent in a neutral-ish year in a swing state than it is about any mistakes she's made.

[Del Tachi]

There are a lot of factors at play here:

(1) Abrams is more damaged now than she was in 2018.
(2) Kemp is a reasonably popular incumbent.
(3) 2018 was a better national environment for Democrats.
(4) She's a woman. 
(5) Etc., etc., etc.

[Kleine Scheiße]

Its over

[Interlocutor is just not there yet]

Its over

For a second, I thought this was in response to some damning scandal that just broke this morning