GOP group ‘Stop Stacey’ targets Abrams ahead of expected 2022 run

Republican strategists aligned with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) on Monday launched an outside group aimed at stopping a potential 2022 gubernatorial run by Democrat Stacey Abrams.

The independent group, dubbed “Stop Stacey,” says it will work to uncover what it calls the former gubernatorial candidate’s “shady voter groups that undermine election integrity” and to “unite and mobilize grassroots Republicans across the country.” 

“We will do whatever it takes to expose Stacey Abrams’ radical network, highlight her dangerous agenda, and ultimately defeat her — and her left-wing candidates — at the ballot box,” the group’s senior strategist, Jeremy Brand, said in a statement. “There is no time to waste: We must stand up, fight back, and Stop Stacey.”

The group’s creation highlights how worried Georgia Republicans are about Abrams potentially challenging Kemp, who has been in the middle of party infighting over the results of the 2020 presidential election. 

Abrams is widely expected to launch a second bid for the governor’s mansion in Georgia in 2022 after successfully leading the effort to flip the Peach State blue in 2020 at the presidential and Senate levels. 

The CEO of Abrams’s group, Fair Fight, responded to the formation of the group, telling Republicans to “start serving Georgians.” 

“Leader Abrams has made no decision about her political future, but here’s what I do know: GA Republicans failed on 11/3 & 1/5, with weak leaders, a disastrous COVID response, and families are suffering,” Lauren Groh-Wargo said in a tweet on Monday. 

The former candidate first ran against Kemp in 2018, narrowly losing to him. Abrams and her allies have said voter suppression contributed to Kemp’s victory. 

In the two years since Abram’s first run, her group Fair Fight has registered tens of thousands of voters in the Peach State and raised $100 million. President Biden became the first presidential candidate in nearly 30 years to win the state, and Sens. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) defeated former Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and David Perdue (R-Ga.) in the state’s Senate runoffs last month.