I do not believe in taking jobs just because the job is available. Therefore my obligation has been to think through what that looks like. While there is not the direct effect that you can have as governor, there is an opportunity to have conversations that are regional and national at the same time - particularly the effect that a change in the Senate can have on the judiciary. The Senate creates an extraordinary platform. So shifting gears to think about the Senate was different. Most of the impediments or solutions are state driven, not federally driven. I am driven by a desire to see poverty end and economic security be a guaranteed capacity for every person. Is running for the Senate still on the table? Absolutely. And we need a leader who actually sees us all and is willing to lay out thoughtful progressive policies that will lift up the entire country and restore our international position. Which is what? That goes to my core ethos, which is that poverty and inequality and inequity in our country are harming our future. This is a legitimate thought.” Now, as I give very serious consideration to the idea of running, it comes back to what do I believe I could accomplish in that role. And so I thought it was important to say: “Yes. In addition, I was approached by a number of organizations and donors. So that was part of the initial conversation for me. There are racial and gender implications to how we think about what leadership looks like in the country. Although I had an almost identical profile in terms of the campaign - and also had fairly substantial legislative experience - the same thought wasn’t attributed to me. I have a sense of what you mean when you talk about your profile, but could you unpack that for me? My initial thought was, and not to cast aspersions on Beto O’Rourke at all, but there’s this notion that because Beto had done so well in his race for the Senate, he was considered a natural entrant into the presidential sweepstakes. It was important to me to not dismiss the calls for me to think about running, especially based on my race and gender and region, because the way I was being dismissed was largely driven by my profile. At the same time, you had the zeitgeist surrounding the conversation about who should be in the mix for the presidency. 2 I was recruited to run for the Senate, which is an important job. 1 I had an outcome that was important because of the implications it had not only for Georgia but for how we think about our democracy. I had a state race that was nationalized because of its historical dimensions. I don’t mean to be crass about it, but how much pressure is there for a politician like you to stay in the presidential-candidate conversation as a way of maintaining national relevance? I’ll tell you my experience. (A decision she may have made by the time you read this.) “If people I respect legitimately think this is something that could be so,” Abrams said about the possibility of a challenge for the country’s highest office, “and it’s not my mom and sister saying, ‘You should do this,’ then I owe those people the courtesy of thinking it through.” Joe Biden reportedly considered the 45-year-old as his running mate, an idea she quickly dismissed - potentially in favor of something even bigger. Now she faces some temptingly plausible next steps, which could include, at least if you ask Charles Schumer, the Senate minority leader, an Abrams run for Senate. Despite being the first black female nominee from a major party to run for governor of any state, Georgia’s Stacey Abrams surely couldn’t have anticipated that losing her election bid - in controversial fashion to the Republican Brian Kemp - would have catapulted her to the heights of the Democratic Party.
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