Stacey Abrams Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
Photo by Al Teich via Shutterstock
Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia gubernatorial democratic candidate and voting rights activist, has been nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to promote nonviolent change at the ballot box.
Abrams and her organization, Fair Fight Action, played a major role in increasing Black voter turnout in Georgia during the 2020 election cycle. Georgia turned blue for the first time since 1992 this year.
“Abrams’ work follows in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s footsteps in the fight for equality before the law and for civil rights,” Lars Haltbrekken, a Socialist Party member of Norway’s parliament, said on the first day of Black History Month in the U.S.
King previously won the award in 1964.
“Abrams’ efforts to complete King’s work are crucial if the United States of America shall succeed in its effort to create fraternity between all its peoples and a peaceful and just society,” Haltbrekken said.
Her work started in 2014 when she launched the New Georgia Project to increase voter registration and turnout among Black Georgians for the midterm elections.
After a narrow defeat in the state’s gubernatorial race to the current Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, Abrams created Fair Fight Action to continue addressing voter suppression in Georgia and around the U.S.
Thousands of people are eligible to nominate someone for the honor. This includes former winners and members of national assemblies and parliaments.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which decides who wins the award, does not release their nominations, but individual nominators are allowed to announce their picks.
Other candidates this year include Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, the World Health Organization, Former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.
The 2021 laureate will be announced in October.