Stacey Abrams on MLB All-Star Game Boycott of Atlanta: ‘One Day of Games Is Not Worth Losing Our Democracy’

Leftwing activist Stacey Abrams took part in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Monday where she discussed Major League Baseball’s (MLB) decision to withdraw its All-Star Game out of Georgia over a new election integrity law.

In her remarks to members of the committee, Abrams attempted to distance herself from boycotts of the Peach State while eventually admitting that she supports “anyone who will try to stop this type of bad behavior,” referring to the Georgia law.

“I acknowledge that boycotts work because as the progeny of those who used boycotts to gain access to the very rights we are fighting to defend. I recognize the utility of boycotts,” Abrams told Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR). “However, I took a great deal of effort to explain why I do not think a boycott in Georgia at this time is the appropriate remedy.”

“I would say that my conversations with Major League Baseball were very clear about the fact that I did not think a boycott was necessary,” Abrams continued. “I was very intentional about my language. I continue to be intentional about my language, and while I am not the commissioner of baseball, I am not the head of a corporation, I am a Georgia citizen.”

“I have every right and responsibility to speak out against laws that will have an effect on my community,” Abrams added.

Despite her conversations with MLB being “very clear” that she did not believe a boycott was “necessary,” Abrams says she will “support anyone” who is willing to boycott Georgia because “one day of games is not worth losing our democracy.”

“While I certainly regret the decision that MLB made to remove their game from Cobb County, and the economic effect that it will have on Georgians at large, I support anyone who will try to stop this type of bad behavior, this type of racial animus, this type of voter suppression from happening in Georgia or elsewhere in the country because, to me, one day of games is not worth losing our democracy,” Abrams said.

After MLB announced this year’s All-Star Game would be relocated out of Atlanta, Georgia, it was reported that the city lost as much as $190 million in revenue.

Asked by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) if the new Georgia election law was “a racist piece of legislation,” Abrams insisted legislators used “racial animus.”

“I think there are components of it that are indeed racist because they use racial animus as a means for targeting the behaviors of certain voters to limit their participation in elections,” Abrams said, adding that she believes members of the Georgia state legislature aim to suppress minority votes.

Abrams was also questioned by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who asked her if she still believes the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election “was stolen.”

“My full language was that it was stolen from the voters of Georgia,” Abrams told Cruz after he interrupted her to request a more direct answer. “We do not know what they would have done because not every eligible Georgian was permitted to participate fully in the election.”

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