Stacey Abrams, Georgia’s former Democratic candidate and voting rights activist, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, Reuters reports.
Abrams and her Fair Fight Action organization were integral to increasing black voter turnout in Georgia in this election cycle – a sprawling, years-long effort that culminated in the long-lasting red state turning blue.
Lars Haltbrekken, a socialist party politician in the Norwegian parliament, said Monday, the first day of Black History Month in the US and the last day anyone can be nominated for the award, that “follows Abrams’ work in Dr. Martin Luther. King Jr. footsteps in the fight for equality before the law and for civil rights. “
King won the award in 1964.
Haltbrekken added, “Abrams’ efforts to complete King’s work are crucial if the United States of America succeeds in creating fraternity among all of its peoples and creating a peaceful and just society,” said Haltbrekken.
Thousands of people are eligible to nominate for the honor, which is announced annually in October.
The Oslo-based Norwegian Nobel Committee will release a shortlist for the award in March. Other notable candidates this year include Russian dissident Alexei Navalny and teen climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Abrams’ fight against voter oppression began in 2014, when she launched the New Georgia Project to get unregistered black Georgians to vote in that year’s midterm elections.
After a narrow defeat in the state’s 2018 gubernatorial race to the Republican now-Gov. Brian Kemp
Brian Kemp Democrats Surpass GOP in Approval Ratings in Georgia: Georgia State Poll GOP Legislator Introduces Bill Requiring Two Copies of ID to Vote Absent Trump Establishes ‘Office of the Former President’ in Florida MORE, Abrams launched Fair Fight Action to continue to fight voter oppression in Georgia and across the country.
Kemp as Georgia Secretary of State in 2017 orchestrated what critics described as the biggest voter purge in US history – an action that disproportionately affected black residents of the Peach State.
Sure, the right to vote in Georgia is rooted in the strong grassroots organization, but Abrams is undoubtedly the face of the movement.
Abrams got compliments from celebrities and lawmakers after President Biden narrowly defeated the former President Trump
Donald Trump Biden reverses Trump’s last-minute attempt to freeze 0.4 billion programs in November and even more after the Democrats organized a surprise round in the Senate elections in Georgia.
It is widely expected that Abrams will soon announce a second bid for the governorship of Georgia. No black woman has been elected governor of any state.
The last American winner of the Nobel Peace Prize was former President Obama in 2009.