Stacey Abrams lost Georgia because America is racist, 2020 Dem says on CNN

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), one of nearly two dozen Democrats running for president, blamed racism for the fact that one of his potential rivals lost her 2018 election during a CNN town hall.

A member of the audience asked Moulton what he would do to dismantle systemic racism if he was elected president. The questioner specifically asked him to go beyond criminal justice reform in his answer.

"We have a problem with racism in America today," Moulton answered. "If this country wasn't racist, Stacey Abrams would be governor. Because people of color are being systemically denied the most basic right in a democracy, which is the right to vote. That's why we need a new Voting Rights Act in America."

Abrams' November 2018 election loss has remained a conversation months after the fact mostly because she has repeatedly claimed that she won, and that Gov. Brian Kemp only earned more votes due to voter suppression by way of purging voters, rejecting ballots with minor errors, or forcing voters to use provisional ballots.

Kemp, who was Georgia's secretary of state before becoming governor, has denied any wrongdoing. He earned 54,723 more votes than Abrams, according to the official tally.

Karl Rove, in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, points out that while Abrams was in the state Legislature, she did not attempt to repeal the voting laws that Kemp eventually used to clean up voter rolls, such as the state's "use-it-or-lose-it" law or the law requiring exact matches of voter information.

The attention to her 2018 loss, and the sustaining of the narrative that the election was stolen from Abrams has helped maintain her national profile as she continues to consider running for Senate in 2020 (Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wants that) or even president.

As Hot Air's Allahpundit wrote Monday, it would be interesting to see how Democratic primary opponents would attack Abrams if she entered the race, given the delicacy of her status as a high-profile victim of racism within the party.