Black, Female and Running for Governor: Can She Win in the South?
ROME, Ga. —
Stacey Abrams hopes to become the first black woman ever elected governor in the United States. Ms. Abrams, a former minority leader of the Georgia House, is also testing a risky campaign strategy: that a Democrat can win a statewide election in the Deep South without relying on the conservative-leaning white voters long considered essential.
Her rival in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, former State Representative Stacey Evans, has scorned Ms. Abrams’ strategy as unrealistic and “unhealthy for democracy.”
The dispute between the two well-regarded contenders is not merely the latest Democratic feud over how to break the Republican lock on the South. The stark differences in strategy — and the choice of candidates themselves — reflect the conflict among Democrats over the types of voters and the kinds of politicians that the party should elevate in the Trump era.
Even some Democrats believe that nominating a single, black, unabashedly liberal woman at this racially charged moment — and in the old Confederacy, no less — is nothing less than political suicide. But if Ms. Abrams, who is expected to prevail Tuesday, goes on to win in November, her victory would demonstrate the intensity of the Trump backlash in a state that is nearly half nonwhite. And the shock waves would be felt far beyond Georgia’s borders.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/19/us/politics/governor-georgia-primary-democrat-stacey-abrams.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
40 years ago. Remember, parties used to be mixed ideologically, and the Democratic Party had a very troublesome faction of strong Southern conservatives, often given to extremism, plus others from around the nation. Many despicable acts attributed to "Democrats" in the past were committed by these Southern Democrats. Majority Democrats and Republicans frequently allied to keep them in check.
Thinking of "40 years ago," remember the days of rabid Southern Democrat conservatives siccing troops and dogs on protesters? That was just 15+ years before then. The 1964 civil rights act caused most Southern conservatives to finally join the conservative-dominated the Republican Party, but many still remained.
The Jimmy Carter delusion: Carter was a small-government, anti-progressive, moderate conservative with some social liberal positions who despised liberal Democrats. He gained the Democratic nomination by doing an end run around party leaders who knew what he was and sold himself directly to an electorate who did not by portraying himself as anti-corruption and promising great change (a lot like Sanders' strategy, only Carter succeeded).
Note that in 1976 we elected a Democratic president AND a Democratic majorities in the house and senate. In spite of that magnificent opportunity to achieve real progressive advances, Carter spent much of his one very mediocre term fighting congress's attempts to do just that.
I voted for Abrams, btw. 
Her genuinely newsworthy run is being pumped up by national media (they develop new figures to create new interest), as we see, and she's drawn a lot of support from organizations outside the state. Even if she doesn't win, this should be a watershed election for Georgia, which is half female and a third black.
we lose.
This isn't Stacey Abrams' fault.
This is Democrats letting them divide us! 
Turnout, turnout, turnout...
GOTV.
However you say it, it's all about motivating people to vote.
I wish her luck!
