Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said in an interview that she will "acknowledge the victor" of the 2022 governor's race despite failing to concede the 2018 race to now-Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and expressed her support for Americans being allowed to "legitimately question and criticize" the election system.
When asked by Axios if she believed her refusal to concede the Georgia gubernatorial election to Kemp in 2018 emboldens former President Donald Trump and his supporters who continue to question the validity of the 2020 election, Abrams said thinks Americans should be able to question the integrity of the election system.
"I don't ever want us to be in a place as Americans where we cannot legitimately question and critique systems and try to make them better," she said.
The Georgia Democrat also claimed that she has never refused to acknowledge the results of an election.
"I will always acknowledge the legal outcome of an election," Abrams said. "I have never failed to do that."
Abrams failed to concede the governor's race to Kemp in 2018, saying at the time that a concession means to acknowledge something is "right and true and proper." She accused Kemp of committing voter fraud.
"I acknowledge that former Secretary of State Brian Kemp will be certified as the victor in the 2018 gubernatorial election," Abrams said in a speech following her loss. "But to watch an elected official – who claims to represent the people of this state, baldly pin his hopes for election on the suppression of the people’s democratic right to vote – has been truly appalling."
"So, to be clear, this is not a speech of concession," she continued.
Abrams also explained in the speech that she "will not concede because the erosion of our democracy is not right."
In response to the 2018 election, Abrams filed a lawsuit with her organization Fair Fight Action, with a trial date set for April. According to Axios, the federal judge has tossed out most of the organization's complaints.
The lawsuit now focuses primarily on "exact match," Georgia's policy for matching voter registration information requiring voters' names on their ID and the voter roll to match exactly. If the two names do not match, state law requires further verification.
In the interview, Abrams dismissed the suggestion that her refusal to concede in 2018 is similar to Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
"What Trump has done is invalidate systems because he didn't like the personal effect," she said. "And he's provided no information or proof of his allegations. I should be held accountable for everything I say, be able to tie it to evidentiary facts. And that's what I've been doing. And that's what I'll continue to do."