Stacey Abrams

Stacey Yvonne Abrams was born on December 9, 1973, in Madison, Wisconsin, and grew up in Gulfport, Mississippi, and later in Decatur, Georgia. Her parents, Robert and Carolyn Abrams, were both Methodist ministers who instilled a strong sense of service. She graduated magna cum laude from Spelman College in 1995, then earned a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Austin and a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1999. Before entering politics, she worked as a tax attorney and founded the nonprofit Now Corp. and the financial services firm Sage Works, which focused on helping small businesses and underserved communities.

Abrams was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 2006, representing the 89th district, and became the first Black woman to serve as minority leader in the Georgia House in 2011. In 2018, she won the Democratic nomination for governor, becoming the first Black woman to be a major-party nominee for governor in U.S. history. She narrowly lost to Brian Kemp, who was then Georgia's secretary of state and oversaw the election. In 2022, she ran again and lost to Kemp by a wider margin. Despite both losses, her campaigns energized voter turnout, particularly among Black and young voters, and were credited with helping flip Georgia in the 2020 presidential election and the 2021 U.S. Senate runoffs.

After the 2018 election, Abrams founded Fair Fight Action, a nonprofit dedicated to combating voter suppression and promoting fair elections. The organization has registered hundreds of thousands of voters and has been involved in litigation against restrictive voting laws in Georgia and other states. Abrams also served as a national co-chair for the 2020 census, helping to ensure an accurate count in underrepresented communities. Her advocacy has been credited with influencing the passage of the For the People Act in the U.S. House, though it stalled in the Senate. She has also spoken widely about the importance of voting rights, testifying before Congress and appearing in the documentary All In: The Fight for Democracy.

Beyond politics, Abrams is a prolific author of romance novels under the pen name Selena Montgomery, publishing eight works of fiction. She has also written nonfiction books on leadership and civic engagement, including Lead from the Outside and Our Time Is Now. Abrams is a trained tax attorney and has worked on issues of financial literacy and small business development. She has been a vocal advocate for criminal justice reform and has supported efforts to expand Medicaid in Georgia. In 2021, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her work on voting rights. She also co-founded the Southern Economic Advancement Project, which focuses on economic equity in the South.

Fair Fight Action

A nonprofit organization founded by Abrams to promote fair elections and combat voter suppression.

Selena Montgomery

Pen name under which Abrams writes romance novels.

Minority leader

The leader of the minority party in a legislative chamber.