serve as governor of any state. here is some of what s abrams told rachel maddow last week. my mission is service. and to serve people, you have to care about them. you have to care about all of them. i have spent my time doing what i can to serve georgia. whether that was expanding access to vaccine, paying off 60,000 georgia medical debts. getting thousands of pounds of food banks. helping families keep their incomes high. helping small businesses. i have tried, in every way possible, to serve the people of georgia. but the best way to serve georgia, in my estimation, is to run for governor. leading off our discussion tonight is, lauren, she is the manager of stacey s campaign, for governor of georgia. thank you very much for joining us tonight. i am reading this as good news for your campaign. and democrats generally in georgia say that republicans
incomes high, but helping small businesses. i ve tried to in every way possible serve the people of georgia. but the best way to serve georgia, in my estimation, is to run for governor and to take that job and do with it what we can. and that is serve every georgian, and create won georgia. when you ran in 2018, part of the week and we covered that race so intently is because the candidates were very interesting people. present company included. but also because there was a disturbing dynamic in that race, which was that your republican opponent, who went on to win the race, with secretary of state at the time and was engaged in really aggressive, will appear to be virtual voter suppression tactics. including throwing huge numbers of georgians off the voting roles, and a way that seemed to benefit his own candidacy. in which he was on the ballot. when you so narrowly lost, you famously we re contentious about the loss, saying that you
make. a decision between division and trickery. or a leadership that defends your rights, your kids, your career, your community and your right to vote in america. that s what s on the ballot. now, to all of georgia s voters, including the 1.2 million who haven t shown up before, welcome aboard. but i want to say this, if i wasn t your first choice, or if you made no choice at all, you re going to have a chance to do a do-over. [ cheers and applause ] i need you to know that it is my mission to serve you, to serve georgia, to make you proud. and those that didn t pick me the first time, to change your mind about me and what we can accomplish together. you see, i learned a long time,
make. a decision between division and trickery. or a leadership that defends your rights, your kids, your career, your community, and your right to vote in america! [cheers and applause] that is what what is on the ba! now to all of georgians who voted, including the 1.2 million who haven t showed up before, welcome aboard. but i want to say this: if i wasn t your first choice, or if you made no choice at all, you are going to have a chance to do a do over. and i need you to know that it is my mission to serve you, to serve georgia, to make you proud. and for those who didn t take me the first time, to change your mind about me and what we can accomplish together. you see, i learned a long time, we don t need to agree on
threshold needed to avoid a runoff. abrams said thousands of absentee and provisional ballots need to be counted. she was already campaigning for the potential runoff. it is my mission to serve you, to serve georgia, to make you proud. and for those who didn t take me the first time, to change your mind ab me and what we can accomplish together. reporter: republican brian kemp stopped short of declaring victory overnight but did sound optimistic. take a listen. there are votes left to count, but we have a very strong lead. and, folks [ applause ] and, folks, make no mistake, the math is on our side to win this election.