Politics

Stacey Abrams Defends Bloomberg’s Cash-Fueled Campaign

No featured image available

• During an appearance on “The View,” Stacey Abrams defended her decision to accept a $5 million donation from billionaire Michael Bloomberg for Fair Fight, the largest donation ever given to the group. 
• Abrams launched Fair Fight as a means to protect election integrity across the U.S., based on the premise that certain voting laws are unfair to minorities and other vulnerable demographics. 
• Abrams, however, did not agree that Bloomberg’s immense wealth was an affront to the democratic process, arguing that anyone “should run the race that they think they should run.”

Stacey Abrams, who launched a voting rights group to promote fair elections across the country, says she has no issue with billionaire Michael Bloomberg using his immense wealth to win the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.

Failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Abrams appeared on “The View” Monday to discuss a range of issues, including her desire to one day occupy the White House and her current work to protect the integrity of the country’s election system. The former romance novelist launched voting rights group Fair Fight in 2019 and has solicited donations in order for the group to remain active ahead of the November elections.

During the segment, Abrams was confronted about a $5 million donation from Bloomberg to Fair Fight, the group’s largest donation to date. Bloomberg himself has already burned more than $400 million of his own fortune on ads in the Democratic presidential primary. The unprecedented level of spending has attracted accusations that the former New York City mayor is simply buying his way into the White House.

“Given that your goal is to make elections fair, like you just said, with the hundreds of millions of dollars Bloomberg is spending on campaign ads and sort of bypassing primaries and caucuses right now, which is his choice, but I think it’s not looking like much of a fair fight,” said “The View” co-host Meghan McCain.

“I think to a lot of people it looks like if you have billions and billions of dollars, you can buy your way in to popularity into the election. How would you respond to that?” McCain asked.

Abrams brushed off the narrative and said that Fair Fight receives many donations and that Bloomberg’s simply “had a few more zeros.”

“First of all, I am grateful to any person who contributes to Fair Fight. We have more than 100,000 contributors,” Abrams said.

Abrams continued:

His check just had a few more zeros on it, and we appreciate that because as I said, I’m not endorsing anyone. … My job is to make sure no matter who shows up that they get to vote for whom they want. … But the reality is the people who are making the decision will decide if they think [Bloomberg] needed to run a different race. That’s their decision. My responsibility is to ensure that no matter how they decide and what they value that their vote gets heard.

Abrams doubled down on Bloomberg’s wealth-driven campaign and said that “for once we actually know where the money is coming from.”

“Every person is allowed to run and should run the race that they think they should run, and Mike Bloomberg has chosen to use his finances,” she said, according to ABC News. “I think it’s an appropriate question to raise, but I don’t think it’s disqualifying for anyone to invest in fixing America.”

Abrams’ take is a far cry from other contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, with Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont both accusing Bloomberg of “buying” the election. Others have directly accused the former NYC mayor of abusing the democratic process.

Abrams has said she is not endorsing anyone during the Democratic presidential campaign; however, the Georgia Democrat and Bloomberg have grown to be allies. The billionaire announced he was cutting a $5 million check to Fair Fight in December 2019, and he later took part in a voting rights summit in January that Abrams organized.