Political Rewind: Stacey Abrams' campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo talks 2022 strategy

Caption

​Lauren Groh-Wargo, Stacey Abrams' campaign manager, stands with attorneys as she speaks at a news conference Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018, in Atlanta. Republican Brian Kemp resigned Thursday as Georgia's secretary of state, a day after his campaign said he's captured enough votes to become governor despite his rival's refusal to concede. Abrams' campaign immediately responded by refusing to accept Kemp's declaration of victory in the race and demanding that state officials "count every single vote."

Credit: (Bob Andres/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

The panel:

Lauren Groh-Wargo, @gwlauren, campaign manager for Stacey Abrams

Kevin Riley, @ajceditor, editor, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 

Patricia Murphy, @MurphyAJC, columnist, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 

The breakdown: 

1. A new poll shows the race for governor is in a dead heat. 

• Quinnipiac released a poll with incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp leading by 2%, which is within the poll's margin of error.

2. How can Abrams increase her appeal to Black voters? 

• Pew Research reports between 2000 and 2019, Georgia’s eligible voter population grew by 1.9 million.
  • Nearly half of this increase attributed to growth in the state’s Black voting population.

3. How is the Abrams campaign responding to issues like abortion and permitless carry?

• The Democratic nominee for governor says she will urge all state law enforcement and prosecutors to resist the criminalization of abortion by deprioritizing abortion-related arrests.
• Abrams also says she will repeal Georgia's permitless carry law, which was a priority for the governor during last legislative session. 
• The Kemp campaign is running an ad where Abrams' said she would defund the police in a CNN interview.
  • However, the campaign says she wants to raise the base salary for state patrol, correctional officers (adult and juvenile), and community supervision officers to approximately $50,000 a year. 

4. How is this campaign different from the 2018 campaign when Stacey Abrams first ran for governor?

• Republicans have held the seat for governor in Georgia since 2003. 
• In 2018, Stacey Abrams came within about 50,000 votes of winning her bid for governor. 
• Abrams is also continuing to focus on parts of her platform from 2018, which includes expanding Medicaid. 
  • More recently, Abrams has been critical of Gov. Kemp surrounding the closure of the Atlanta Medical Center.
    • This morning, Kemp announced a $130 million cash infusion from public funds to add about 200 new beds to Grady Hospital in wake of this closure. 

*Please note a representative from the Kemp campaign will join the show next week. 

Friday on Political Rewind: The AJC's Tia Mitchell joins the show.