Georgia Governor Brian Kemp’s re-election campaign condemned progressive activist Stacy Abrams on Thursday for comparing her fight to change her state’s election laws to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, who is leading his country against Russian invasion.
Speaking to the Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Wednesday, Abrams proposed Kemp and the Russian president Vladimir Putin both were waging a “war on democracy” — although Kemp is fighting a legislative battle while Putin orders weapons in Ukraine which are reported to be used for the slaughter of civilians.
democrat Abrams is running for governor in November after losing to him in 2018.
A spokesman for Kemp’s 2022 campaign told DailyMail.com that Abrams’ comparison was “disgusting” and suggested she was using the unfolding tragedy to her own advantage.
“It’s a disgusting comparison. “President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people are fighting for their freedom against a senseless invasion that killed innocent civilians,” said Camp Tate spokesman Tate Mitchell.
“Stacey Abrams is a political opportunist who has stuffed her pockets with lies about election integrity measures as a voter identification number. The two are not the same.
Abrams was asked during a television interview how she compared her efforts to expand her voting rights with the fact that the data showed that this was likely to strengthen her campaign.
Progressive Georgia activist Stacy Abrams was criticized by Republicans in her state on Thursday for comparing her fight against Georgia’s election laws to Ukraine’s fight against Russian invasion
The former US MP was adamant that “it should be easy to vote” and said she did not care who those she registered voted for.
“My focus should never be on who you vote for. The voting process itself is non-partisan. We are a stronger nation when we allow people to participate, “she explained.
“And if we ever doubted this – the war that Putin is waging against Ukraine, President Zelensky said that – I will paraphrase it probably bad – he said that this is not a war against Ukraine, this is a war for democracy in Ukraine.
“When we allow democracy to be overtaken by those who want to choose who can be heard, and this election is based on nothing but hostility or inconvenience, then that is wrong.”
Earlier, Abrams lost to Kemp in 2018 in a close race for governor of Peach.
Since then, she has focused on increasing voter registration through her Fair Fight group. Her efforts have been widely credited with helping President Joe Biden win Georgia in the 2020 presidential election.
She also focused on attempts to repeal Kemp’s electoral security law, which civil rights groups and opponents of the Democrats say severely deprives non-white voters in Georgia.
Abrams said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian people are fighting for their democracy as they also fight for their lives against the onslaught of Russian troops.
Aerial view shows a residential building destroyed by shelling as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues in the village of Borodyanka in the Kiev region on March 3
Roman, a former Ukrainian soldier wounded in battle, gives instructions on how to handle weapons and move during a civilian conflict on the outskirts of Lviv
In Ukraine, meanwhile, civilians have armed themselves and designed Molotov cocktails to help Kyiv’s defense forces fight the Russian invasion.
For about a week, Putin’s forces have been carrying out air strikes and various shellings on Ukrainian cities.
Authorities in Kyiv say at least 2,000 civilians, including children, have been slaughtered so far.
Former Republican Senator from Georgia Kelly Loefler on Thursday criticized Abrams for this comparison.
“Stacey Abrams is so self-absorbed that she simply compares her efforts to undermine fair elections to the invasion of Ukraine by a assassin dictator,” Loefler wrote on Twitter.
The Democrat had previously made similar comments, arguing that the heavily armed Russian invasion was a test of Ukraine’s “democracy” – and compared the situation to the battle for America’s future at home.
On February 28, days after Putin personally ordered Moscow forces to attack, Abrams said Axios the invasion “was not a matter of Putin, but a matter of the functioning of Ukrainian democracy.”
Former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loefler also condemned Abrams’ comparison
“Stacey Abrams is a political opportunist who has stuffed her pockets with lies about election integrity measures as a voter identification number. The two are not the same, “Kemp’s spokesman told DailyMail.com
“We are witnessing attacks on democracy around the world, and they are brighter and more effective than they have ever been,” she said. “And the United States is not immune.”
Elsewhere in an interview with the Daily Show on Wednesday night, Abrams was once again forced to defend herself against criticism over a scandalous February photo of herself sitting in a classroom full of children wearing masks. Abrams’s smile was the only one he could see.
“My responsibility in this case, if I have created some kind of failure to insure the lives of children – seriously, this is a mistake. But your job is essentially to acknowledge when you make a mistake and try to correct it. “We have this story that we have invincible leaders, it’s just not true,” she said.
“What we have are people who want to do the work and we have to hold them accountable for the work they do. But we must have grace when they make mistakes and believe that their intentions are right.
The long response is far from the initial reaction of her gubernatorial campaign, which criticized the photo as “unfounded”.