In Georgia, Stacey Abrams Concedes Governor's Race

Stacey Abrams' second attempt to win the governor's seat in Georgia has ended the same way the first one did—with a celebration for Republican Brian Kemp. The polls had been trending incumbent Kemp's way for a quite a while, and Abrams could not turn the tide. Abrams called Kemp to concede about 11pm, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Abrams' near-victory in 2018 made her a nationally known political figure, particularly on the issue of voter rights, but she could not secure a broad enough base in the rematch. One segment of the electorate in particular turned away from her: Black men. She was on track to lose by a bigger margin the second time around.

Kemp, for his part, "seemed on shaky ground" after the 2020 presidential election when Donald Trump accused him of not doing enough to overturn Joe Biden's victory in the state, per the AP. But in the long run, the split with Trump may have helped him with the state's crucial bloc of swing voters, a segment largely made up of white, college-educated suburbanites. With about 86% of the vote counted Tuesday night, Politico had Kemp up 53-45. (Abrams never used the word "concede" after her first loss to Kemp, and she accused him of suppressing the vote.)