Trump: Stacey Abrams ‘had Oprah’ and still lost Georgia governor’s race
President Donald Trump isn’t worried about Stacey Abrams.
In an interview with regional news outlets — including McClatchy — in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump discounted Abrams, the former Georgia House Democratic Leader who in November lost her bid to be the nation’s first black female governor to Republican Brian Kemp.
“If you look at Stacey Abrams ... she had Oprah, she had Michelle Obama and she had President Obama. And that was a big job for them. They were out there a lot for Stacey Abrams,” Trump told reporters. “And all Brian Kemp had is Donald Trump. And we won. Fairly easily, okay? We won. You know, I was there a couple times for him. And they were there a lot for her. And we took it.”
Abrams delivered the Democrats’ official rebuttal to Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night, giving her a national profile that further stoked rumors she could be preparing for another high-profile political campaign, perhaps against Georgia’s incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue in 2020.
“I think it’s a mistake for her to run against him because I don’t think she can win,” Trump said.
Asked what Trump thought of murmurs she might jump into the crowded 2020 Democratic presidential primary field, the president smiled.
“That, I like even better. I’d love for her to run for president,” he said. “Why? ... To run for president, you’re supposed to have won, unless you’re a non-politician like me. I’d never ran. I’m one-for-one. And here we are, folks. ... Hopefully, I’ll be two-for-two.”
This story was originally published February 6, 2019 at 3:14 PM with the headline "Trump: Stacey Abrams ‘had Oprah’ and still lost Georgia governor’s race."
