Stacey Abrams Claims She Didn’t Deny 2018 Election Loss, Just Invented New Definition Of ‘Victory’

Former Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams said on “The Best People with Nicolle Wallace” Monday that she never denied losing the 2018 race — she was just using a different definition of “victory.”

Abrams previously maintained that racist voter suppression in Georgia was why she lost the 2018 gubernatorial election to Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. She said on the MSNBC podcast that her denials actually consisted of her celebrating the “progress” she made, which she classified as a win. (RELATED: Head Of Stacey Abrams’ Embattled Nonprofit To Step Down)

WATCH:

“In 2018, when I lost my election, I was never confused about it. I had conversations with communities and I would say we won. And that just would send people into these paroxysms of hatred,” Abrams said. “What I was telling them is look, not getting the title did not mean that we didn’t make progress. When you were trying to defend democracy, when you were trying to serve the people, progress counts as victory, because their goal is your silence. Their goal is your complicity. Their goal is your subjugation.”

“Every day we remain free — that is progress. But, if we have to wait for this large announcement, like elections, to say that this is when we win, we’re going to keep losing,” she continued. “I say, let’s look for the small interstitial victories we can grasp, those small moments of progress we can make, because that adds up to the actual victory we’re trying to get to.”

When Abrams first lost to Kemp in 2018, she denied the election results. While she admitted that Kemp would “be certified as the victor of the 2018 gubernatorial election” on Nov. 16, 2018, she also said she was not conceding, according to The Washington Post.

“It was not a free and fair election,” Abrams said on MSNBC’s “All In with Chris Hayes” on Nov. 19, 2018.

“I use the word ‘stolen.’ I’m not saying I absolutely know I would have won, but we know that thousands of Georgians had their voices stolen because they were not able to cast ballots, and they cannot be guaranteed that their votes will be counted in 2020 if we don’t do this right,” she said on MSNBC’s “AM Joy” in April 2019.

Abrams lost her gubernatorial bid to Kemp for the second time in 2022.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.