REPORT: Democrat Stacey Abrams announces decision on potential third run for governor

January 8, 2026

From Fox News: The third time won’t be the charm for Stacey Abrams, at least in 2026.

The two-time Democratic gubernatorial nominee in battleground Georgia is ruling out another run for governor this year, saying that instead she’ll focus on her work fighting what she warns is the nation’s move toward authoritarianism under President Donald Trump.

“Americans are in pain but they are ready to act, and now is the moment to reconnect to what is at stake and what is possible,” Abrams said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s clear to me that the most effective way I can serve right now is by continuing to do this important work. For that reason, I will not seek elected office in 2026.”

Abrams, a former Democratic Party leader in the Georgia state legislature and a nationally known voting-rights advocate, narrowly lost to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial election. She lost her 2022 rematch with Kemp by nearly eight points.

Abrams, 52, founded a political organization called Fair Fight Action in 2018, as she claimed to be fighting “voter suppression.”

Last Saturday, Adams fired off a statement slamming President Trump over the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. She wrote:

Nicolás Maduro is a brutal dictator who has caused immense suffering. However, the way to fight authoritarianism abroad is not to embrace it at home.

Foreign policy is not the personal domain of a president. Congress has a constitutional role to serve as the voice of the people and a restraint on power. One of the oldest moves in the authoritarian playbook is to sideline the legislature and strip away checks and balances. That’s Step Three in the autocrat’s playbook.

In our democracy, actions of this magnitude and decisions about what happens next, must go through Congress – not be dictated by a president who admires authoritarians and rules like one.

Nicolás Maduro is a brutal dictator who has caused immense suffering. However, the way to fight authoritarianism abroad is not to embrace it at home.

Foreign policy is not the personal domain of a president. Congress has a constitutional role to serve as the voice of the people…

— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) January 3, 2026