Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who was among the many leftist figureheads touting “defund the police” amidst the violent 2020 riots, told Axios on Thursday that she never wanted to do exactly that.
“I do not, and have never said, and have never supported defunding the police,” Abrams said.
In June 2020, however, CNN’s Alisyn Camerota asked Abrams “so yes to some defunding?” in an interview following the killing of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta.
“We have to reallocate resources, so yes,” said Abrams.
Abrams’ recent hypocritical statement comes off as a last-ditch effort to win favor among Georgia voters as she attempts to beat incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp, whose pro-police platform helped win the seat.
Over 200 Atlanta police officers quit their jobs in 2020, largely due to low morale in the wake of a summer of riots, and the city experienced 157 homicides in the same year, a 58 percent uptick.
Despite her newly pro-police funding stance, Abrams is poised to run a tough race against the incumbent governor, with Kemp leading her 51 percent to 44 percent according to Emerson College Polling.
Perhaps Abrams’ unpopularity also stems from her denying election results for Georgia’s governor in 2018 after losing to Gov. Brian Kemp. She made the unfounded claim the election was “tainted” when she lost by 1.4 percentage points.
Abrams must have figured out she needed to renounce the “defund the police” movement, which proved wildly unsuccessful for democrats in 2020. Many other Democrats have also gone back on their word and now claim to support our men and women in blue. It is difficult to believe that Abrams wants to support law enforcement after previously running a campaign with a platform so staunchly against them. The hypocrisy of her past and current beliefs makes Abrams’ promises difficult to trust. Both Axios and Abrams hope to fool Georgians, and the country, into forgetting her past anti-police sentiments in hopes that it’s enough to win her a spot in the Georgia governor’s mansion this November.
