Despite previous rumors she is mulling a third run at governor of Georgia, two-time failed Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams has officially ruled out another run for governor this year.
But that doesn’t mean she’s completely out of politics.
Abrams announced today that instead she’ll focus on her work fighting what she warns is the nation’s move toward authoritarianism under President Donald Trump.
“Americans are in pain but they are ready to act, and now is the moment to reconnect to what is at stake and what is possible,” Abrams said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“It’s clear to me that the most effective way I can serve right now is by continuing to do this important work. For that reason, I will not seek elected office in 2026.”
“The antidote to authoritarianism and its harms has always been democracy; and I have long believed that democracy requires active engagement and staunch defenders,” she continued in her announcement.
“But democracy is experienced by the vast majority through the work of government — when it fails, we are all imperiled.”
Abrams, a former Democratic Party leader in the Georgia state legislature and a nationally known voting-rights advocate who burst onto the scene in 2018, narrowly lost to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial election.
She lost her 2022 rematch with Kemp by nearly eight points.
Multiple sources confirmed that Abrams was mulling a third straight run for governor in the race to succeed the now-term-limited Kemp.
Abrams grabbed plenty of national attention during the 2018 Georgia race, and came close to making history as the nation’s first Black female elected governor.
During her first bid, she refused to concede to Kemp after losing by a razor-thin margin boosted her among many Democrats while becoming a top GOP political target.
She launched the Fair Fight political organization following her defeat, helped then President-elect Joe Biden narrowly carry Georgia in the 2020 presidential election, and also contributed to the sweep by the Democrats in the Jan. 5, 2021 twin Senate runoff elections.
Abrams raised over $110 million in fundraising for her 2022 rematch with Kemp, but was soundly defeated.
Since then, Abrams’ political aspirations have fell flat.
According to Fox News, her New Georgia Project folded last year after being fined $300,000 for illegally backing her 2018 campaign.
And while Abrams last year considered a 2026 gubernatorial run, other top Democratic candidates jumped into the race, limited her path to victory.
Among those running include former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who served as director of the White House Office of Public Engagement during former President Joe Biden’s administration, is widely seen as the front-runner for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.