Despite declaring herself a pro-law enforcement candidate, Georgia gubernatorial Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams has built relationships and maintained ties with several left-wing groups and anti-police activists.
Abrams currently serves as a board member and governor of the Marguerite Casey Foundation, which is based in Seattle. Earlier in March, the organization tweeted #DefundThePolice. The Foundation also tweeted #AbolishThePolice in February, yet Abrams still manages to dissimulate her stance.
The Foundation hosted an event in early February titled “Becoming Abolitionists—A History of Failed Police Reforms & Vision for True Public Safety,” which was moderated by the Foundation’s president and CEO, Carmen Rojas.
Stacey Abrams tied to multiple abolitionist groups despite claims she doesn't support defunding police https://t.co/OGwdS9lw7E
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 23, 2022
Rojas, a supporter of the abolitionist movement, donated $7,600 to Abrams’ campaign, the contribution limit for primaries and general elections in Georgia. Since joining the Marguerite Casey Foundation in May 2021, the gubernatorial nominee has received over $52,500 in income from the Foundation, according to her financial disclosures.
Rojas had also tweeted about defunding the police on multiple occasions. He tweeted on the 4th of August 2020, “There is no reforming this. ABOLISH THE POLICE.” Again In April 2021, he tweeted, “Defund the police!“
Her campaign team had previously stated that Abrams did not hold the same views as the Foundation. However, the Foundation issued a press release just weeks after she became one of its governors. This release also proved that she supported its expanded anti-police efforts.
The Foundation launched the “Answer the Uprising” initiative in late May 2021, which included increased financial support to liberal groups working on law enforcement issues. They also developed an alliance with some grant-making organizations, supporting defunding the police department. The initiative received unanimous support from its board, including Abrams. Furthermore, the Foundation has also given millions of dollars to individuals who support defunding the police and advocating abolitionist views.
In addition, she previously served as the executive director of the Roosevelt Institute’s Southern Economic Advancement Project. It was a leftist project aiming to abolish the filibuster and put racial justice at the center of all government policymaking. According to a financial disclosure statement, she also got at least $708,324 from the organization in less than three years.
During the George Floyd unrest of 2020, she tried to rebrand this movement to make it seem like a “reformation and transformation” movement instead of the abolishment she was pushing for.
She stated: “I think we’re being drawn into this false choice idea. We have to have a transformation of how we view the role of law enforcement, how we view the construct of public safety, and how we invest, not only in the work that we need them to do to protect us, but the work that we need to do to protect and build our communities. And that’s the conversation we’re having: We’ll use different language to describe it, but fundamentally we must have reformation and transformation.“
Moving on, Abrams recently co-chaired the Black Voices for Black Justice Fund, a racial justice and abolitionist organization. She has also been recognized as an active member of several abolitionist groups and has ties with dozens of anti-police individuals and activists.
Despite these hard and indisputable facts, her campaign has repeatedly insisted, “Stacey Abrams does not and never has supported defunding the police.”
