Stacey Abrams to skip Biden’s voting rights speech in Georgia due to conflict

CORRECTION: This report has been updated with James Woodall’s plans to attend President Biden’s remarks on Tuesday in Georgia on voting rights.

Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams will not be attending the voting rights speech by President Biden and Vice President Harris on Tuesday due to a scheduling conflict.

An aide for Abrams told The New York Times that she will be unable to attend the event in Atlanta. Abrams is currently running to unseat Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R), whom she ran against in the 2018 gubernatorial race.

Despite her absence, Abrams expressed support for the event, welcoming Biden back to Georgia on Twitter.

“The fight for voting rights takes persistence. As MLK exhorted, ‘The clock of destiny is ticking out. We must act now before it is too late.’ Thank you, @POTUS, for refusing to relent until the work is finished. Welcome back to Georgia where we get good done,” she tweeted.

The fight for voting rights takes persistence. As MLK exhorted, “The clock of destiny is ticking out. We must act now before it is too late.” Thank you, @POTUS, for refusing to relent until the work is finished. Welcome back to Georgia where we get good done. #FTVA #JLVRAA

— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) January 10, 2022

Biden and Harris will travel to Georgia on Tuesday to speak about voting rights as they seek to push Democratic-backed legislation — the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

The White House said when announcing the speech that Biden and Harris plan to “speak to the American people about the urgent need to pass legislation to protect the constitutional right to vote and the integrity of our elections from corrupt attempts to strip law-abiding citizens of their fundamental freedoms and allow partisan state officials to undermine vote counting processes.”

While Abrams will not be attending, other state civil rights leaders will be at the event including James Woodall, former president of the NAACP of Georgia.

Though he will be going, Woodall appeared to share in the frustration that other activists have expressed about White House inaction, telling the Times, “We don’t need any more photo ops. We need action.”

–Updated on Jan. 11 at 11:53 a.m.