Stacey Abrams has had a long and storied political career—and it’s not over yet.
Having previously served as minority leader of Georgia’s House of Representatives, she’s best known for her work in voting-rights activism in a state that has battled voter suppression for years, and for helping to turn Georgia blue in 2020. She lost two gubernatorial runs against Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and currently holds no office. But she’s not letting that slow her down.
“I know what my end goal is with my work, but it’s a freeway,” Abrams explained onstage Wednesday, opposite Fortune’s Diane Brady at the Impact Initiative Conference. “It’s my job to pick the lane that gets me where I need to be—and to be able to shift lanes depending on obstacles and needs.”
Right now, Abrams sees the strongest utility in her activism. But she isn’t counting out the possibility of returning to elected office, saying that she would “of course” run again.
“Politics should be a tool for the policy you want,” she said. “Unfortunately, it’s too often the other way around. But I’m always very clear that politics is something I do; policy is the reason I do it.”
Right now, she’s focused on advocating for voting rights, particularly in her home state. She divides the problem into three main questions: Can you register? Can you cast a ballot? And does the ballot get counted? “Anytime the ability to cast a ballot depends on who’s in office, democracy is imperiled,” she said.
Asked whether she has a sense of which way next month’s presidential election will go, Abrams demurred. But she was clear that she believes America is “on the cusp” of descending into autocracy, which she said is the natural end point of a system without voting infrastructure.
“Georgia is a purple state—you have to fight [for] every election,” she said. “We know it’ll be a close election—a toss-up. It’s a question of who’s doing the work to turn out voters.”
