Every once in a while, you come across a news story that brings a schadenfreudelicious smile to your face. For me, it happened Tuesday night when I stumbled across a tweet from Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Greg Bluestein.
Just in: The Fair Fight political and advocacy organization that Stacey Abrams founded is laying off staffers and narrowing its mission as it struggles with mounting debt from lengthy court battles over voting rights that racked up big legal bills. #gapol https://t.co/JvO2k5WOtX
— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) January 30, 2024
It turns out that the Stacey Abrams train is running out of steam. Fair Fight Action, the non-profit that Abrams founded to avenge her 2018 gubernatorial loss — I mean, advocate for progressive policies — is in deep financial trouble and will have to lay off staff and refocus its mission to stay afloat.
Fair Fight is facing a restructuring after losing a high-profile lawsuit against the state of Georgia over its voting laws. The organization tried to claim that Georgia’s voting system suppresses minority votes, but an Obama-appointed judge ruled in 2022 that the Peach State’s voting laws weren’t discriminatory.
“Although Georgia’s election system is not perfect, the challenged practices violate neither the constitution nor the VRA (Voting Rights Act),” U.S. District Judge Steven Jones wrote in his ruling.
Recommended: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Talks About 2024 — and 2020
The big trouble with that suit was that Fair Fight forked money hand over fist to attorneys fighting a losing fight. And much of that money went to an Abrams crony.
“The voting rights organization founded by Stacey Abrams spent more than $25 million over two years on legal fees, mostly on a single case, with the largest amount going to the self-described boutique law firm of the candidate’s campaign chairwoman,” Politico reported in October 2022.
That report continued:
Fair Fight Action has maintained that the suit — which ended last month when a federal judge ruled against the group on all three remaining claims — served an important role in drawing attention to voting inequities. But some outside the group questioned both the level of expenditures devoted to a single, largely unsuccessful legal action and the fact that such a large payout went to the firm of Abrams’ close friend and campaign chair. Those concerns were heightened by the fact that Abrams’ national campaign against voter suppression galvanized the Democratic Party, many of whose top donors helped fill its coffers.
It’s a far cry from the fundraising juggernaut that Fair Fight was in its early years. In its first three years of operation, Fair Fight raked in upwards of $100 million in donations and spent much of it pushing Abrams’ pet projects and attacking Gov. Brian Kemp (R-Ga.) in expensive ads.
Fair Fight and Abrams’ constant attempts to avenge her defeat by throwing bombs and Kemp deserve the credit for laying the foundation for Kemp’s formidable political influence today — in other words, Abrams created a monster. The Abrams machine also inspired former senator Kelly Loeffler to launch her Greater Georgia advocacy efforts.
But today, with fundraising drying up and expenses mounting, Fair Fight is having to lay off 75% of its staff and sever its relationships with outside vendors. The organization is bringing back its original CEO, Lauren Groh-Wargo, who left to oversee Abrams’ brutal 2022 loss, to restructure.
“The cuts are a blow to the organization Abrams launched after her first defeat to Brian Kemp in the 2018 governor’s race,” Bluestein reported. “Aside from waging a legal battle to expand voting rights, it also operated as a de facto shadow political organization for the Democrat’s comeback bid in 2022.”
The reality is that Fair Fight outlived its usefulness. Since Abrams formed it as a response to her first loss and she’s not a factor in Georgia politics anymore (thank the Lord), there’s no Abrams legacy for Fair Fight to deliver on. It may be for the best just to let it die a natural death.