(CNN) Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton said Sunday Democrat Stacey Abrams should be governor of Georgia, and said she would be if the US "wasn't racist."

"We have a problem with racism in America today. If this country wasn't racist, Stacey Abrams would be governor," the Democratic presidential candidate said at a CNN town hall in Atlanta.

In response to a question about dismantling systemic racism in America, he called for a "new Voting Rights Act" and said "people of color are being systemically denied the most basic right in a democracy, which is the right to vote."

Abrams, who would have been the first African American woman ever elected governor, narrowly lost her gubernatorial bid in Georgia last year. She refused to concede the race amid significant controversy over the way the election was conducted -- a process overseen by her opponent, now-Gov. Brian Kemp, who was Georgia's secretary of state at the time.

Abrams eventually acknowledged defeat but has said she believes it "was a stolen election."

Read More