Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams addresses supporters during an election night watch party, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, in Atlanta. | John Amis/AP Photo Elections Stacey Abrams eyeing Senate, governor campaigns

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. — Stacey Abrams said Monday that she is considering running for a Georgia Senate seat in 2020 or governor again in 2022 — and possibly even for president.

Abrams drew national attention in her bid to become the first black female governor in the United States, and the progressive political action committee Democracy for America included her in a presidential poll it opened online last week.


But Abrams has largely circulated under the 2020 radar, even as another failed statewide candidate, Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, draws intense interest from donors and Democratic activists.

Asked whether she is considering a presidential campaign, Abrams said, “No … I haven’t thought about it.”

She stopped short of ruling out a campaign, however, saying, “I am open to all options, and it’s too soon after the election to know exactly what I’m going to do.”

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Abrams’ more likely trajectory appears to be to challenge Republican Sen. David Perdue in two years or wait for a rematch with Brian Kemp, the Republican who defeated her in November, in four.

“I am thinking about both,” she told POLITICO of the Senate and gubernatorial races from the sidelines of a donor conference here.

“Georgia is my state,” she said. “And the changes I talked about in this campaign remain changes I believe are necessary for our state to continue to progress, to serve the entirety of our state, and that the issues that I raised remain urgent and important.”

Abrams’ remarks followed an address at a conference organized by the progressive donor network Way to Win, which funneled some $22 million to political efforts in the 2018 elections.

Speaking to supporters here, Abrams continued with defiant post-election messaging, railing against what she called voter suppression and a “systemic attempt to narrow the electorate” in Georgia. Ticking off Democrats’ successes in the midterm elections, including increasing turnout and fundraising in Georgia, she declared, “We won.”

“The Deep South is rising again,” Abrams said. “And we will not stop.”

Abrams’ campaign put her in the sights of many top-tier presidential contenders’ early political efforts in the 2020 run-up. Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey, among other Democrats, rushed to support Abrams in a state that increasingly appears within the Democratic Party’s reach.

On Monday, Abrams told POLITICO that she, O’Rourke and Andrew Gillum, who narrowly lost his race for governor of Florida, “each, in our way demonstrated that there is a much broader electorate that should be engaged in the national conversation than we’ve seen in previous years.

“Particularly for Georgia, we will be a battleground state, I believe, for the first time in more than 20 years,” she said.