Stacey Abrams credited for boosting Democrats in Georgia

ATLANTA (AP) – Georgia stands on the cusp of delivering 16 electoral votes to President-elect Joe Biden and will welcome the nation’s attention for another round of campaigning as two U.S. Senate seats head to Jan. 5 runoffs that are likely to determine control of the chamber for the first two years of Biden’s presidency.

Stacey Abrams is getting plenty of credit. Georgia had long been on the cusp of becoming a battleground state. But Abrams accelerated the timeline with her 2018 campaign for governor.

Her near-miss left in place a campaign infrastructure and proved to Democratic donors, volunteers, and voters that it was possible to win in the growing, diversifying Deep South state.