Elizabeth Warren Asserts that Stacey Abrams is the Rightful Governor of Georgia

Following the signing of a bill that overhauls the state’s elections systems and includes new restrictions on voting by mail and greater legislative control over how elections are run, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on Thursday claimed that Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is “sitting in Stacey Abram’s chair.”

Abrams lost a close election in 2018 to Kemp and refused to concede, although Kemp was declared the winner and inaugurated in January of 2019.

Expressing that she believes Abrams is rightful governor of the state, Warren tweeted, “The Republican who is sitting in Stacey Abrams’ chair just signed a despicable voter suppression bill into law to take Georgia back to Jim Crow.”

Warren also demanded that the U.S. Senate “must pass the #ForThePeople Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Act immediately – our democracy is at stake tonight” in reference to H.R. 1, a Democrat-proposed bill that would expand absentee voting, end gerrymandering and restrict “dark money” political donations, among other things.

The Republican who is sitting in Stacey Abrams’ chair just signed a despicable voter suppression bill into law to take Georgia back to Jim Crow. The Senate must pass the #ForThePeople Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Act immediately – our democracy is at stake tonight. https://t.co/xDolZO9Bf3

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) March 26, 2021

Warren’s tweet was a response to a video showing Democratic state Rep Park Cannon being arrested by Capitol police after knocking on the door of the governor’s office during his remarks and refusing to leave.

Cannon, who was released later last night, was charged with felony obstruction of law enforcement, punishable by one to five years in prison, and with disrupting a session of the General Assembly.

Taking to Twitter following her release, Cannon insisted that she was “not the first Georgian to be arrested for fighting voter suppression” and would “love to say I’m the last, but we know that isn’t true.”

Hey everyone, thank you for your support. I’ve been released from jail. I am not the first Georgian to be arrested for fighting voter suppression. I’d love to say I’m the last, but we know that isn’t true. #SB202

— Representative Park Cannon (@Cannonfor58) March 26, 2021

From Fox News:

The law, which Kemp approved on Thursday after the state’s Republican-controlled legislature approved the bill, calls for changing the rules and processes for requesting an absentee ballot, including requiring voters to present valid forms of photo identification. It also limits drop boxes and the early voting period for runoffs.

Kemp called H.R. 1 an “unconstitutional power grab” in a Thursday interview with Fox News.

The Georgia bill, H.B. 513, “further secures” Georgia’s “absentee ballots by mail by requiring a photo I.D., which the vast majority of Georgians’ support,” he said. “It is also adding days of early voting on the weekends.”