MSNBC Panelist Calls on Biden to Tap Stacey Abrams to Lead Election-Reform Effort

An MSNBC panelist called on President Biden to tap Democrat Stacey Abrams, the two-time failed gubernatorial nominee in Georgia, to lead a federal election-reform effort on Thursday morning while discussing what the future of Democrats defeated on Tuesday might look like.

“Well, what about if we pair up Liz Cheney and Stacey Abrams, and actually start talking about universal voting and election reform?” asked Maria Teresa Kumar, the president and CEO of Voto Latino.

“I could see them doing kind of a czar thing with the [Biden] administration that’s completely bipartisan. That would be exciting,” she continued, before suggesting that “there is definitely an appetite for this kind of movement.”

Abrams fell short in her rematch against Republican incumbent Brian Kemp on Tuesday, losing by nearly eight points just four years after coming within two points of besting Kemp. In the aftermath of their 2018 match-up, Abrams refused to concede, while arguing that Kemp had been illegitimately elected.

In a speech acknowledging that Kemp would be sworn in as governor, Abrams said she would not concede because she did not believe his victory was “right, true or proper.” She repeated the allegation that the election had been stolen a number of times in the years that followed, including in an interview with the New York Times during which her interlocutor noted that he “saw that recently you said something like you’d won your election but you just didn’t get to have the job,”

“Yes,” replied Abrams, who argued that voter suppression was to blame for her not being sworn in as governor.

She was also a sharp critic of S.B. 202, the election reform bill signed into law by Kemp last year, characterizing it as “nothing less than Jim Crow 2.0.”

Under S.B. 202 this election cycle, Georgia set an all-time record for early vote turnout and a midterm record for overall turnout.