Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams challenged CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday, accusing the host of spreading “disinformation” after she challenged the Democrat on her refusal to concede the 2018 election.
Abrams narrowly lost the 2018 gubernatorial race to Gov. Brian Kemp (R) and refused to concede, claiming that the state’s election laws violated voting rights. That refusal has long been likened to former President Trump’s refusal to accept the 2020 election results over claims of fraud, a comparison Abrams has contested.
“Well, I do remember the time you told The New York Times, ‘I won.’ You did describe it as a stolen election,” Collins told Abrams.
“Kaitlan, that’s actually incorrect,” Abrams interjected. “Normally I wouldn’t cut you off, but you’re repeating disinformation.”
Abrams argued that legal challenges to the election results conceded that the state had lackluster election laws, despite upholding its result in favor of Kemp.
“I have never been the governor of Georgia. I’ve never claimed to be the governor of Georgia,” Abrams said. “What I have said is that voters were denied their full rights. Courts agreed with me at the time of that election. They agreed with me postelection. The state made changes to the laws, some of them, unfortunately too many of them, have been restored in different ways.”
“And we continue to face voter suppression not only in Georgia, but around the country, because Republicans are using the ability to change the laws because we no longer have the protection of the Voting Rights Act to make it harder for average voters to show up at the polls and votes counted,” she continued. “That should be where our focus is.”
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican on the other side of Abrams’s election lawsuit, criticized her Wednesday for her statements.
“In my time in office, I have spent a lot of time holding failed candidates like Stacey Abrams accountable to Georgia’s voters. The latest comments from Stacey Abrams show that she still can’t accept that she lost in 2018,” he said in a statement. “And the fact that she still can’t accept that means she has no business going on TV talking about defending democracy.”
“The fact is that she lost fair and square under the established rules of the game,” he continued.