Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams (D) said race played a part in the excitement for the 2020 Democratic presidential candidacy of Beto O’Rourke as opposed to herself or former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum.

Host Andrea Mitchell asked, “Why Beto O’Rourke and not Andrew Gillum, and not Stacey Abrams, as the darling of the media?”

Abrams said, “I don’t think that success is zero-sum, so I don’t want to disparage or take away from the reaction, and the legitimate response people had to his campaign. But I do want to call the question. There is no difference — there is no distinction with a difference between what he accomplished and what Andrew and I accomplished. I would challenge people to consider why we were not lifted up in the same way.”

She added, “I think race plays a part. I think region plays a part. I also think phenotype plays a part. My responsibility is to investigate running for president because I want people to understand I may not look like the typical candidate, but that does not diminish my capacity to possibly run for the job. That would be true for Andrew if he was interested.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN