Ta-Nehisi Coates credits Stacey Abrams for turning Georgia blue: ‘She didn’t get to wear the crown’

The acclaimed author recalled a 2015 conversation with Abrams and urged Americans to honor the people whose organizing efforts make political victories possible.

Long before Georgia became a political battleground where Democrats could win statewide elections, Stacey Abrams believed she could turn the traditionally Republican state blue. And according to Ta-Nehisi Coates, she told him so more than a decade ago.

The award-winning author and journalist shared the story during a conversation at Rutgers University–Newark on Wednesday, Nov. 4, one day after the midterm elections, as he reflected on the years of organizing and sacrifice behind political victories.

Coates recalled meeting Abrams backstage in 2015, shortly after the publication of his National Book Award-winning book, “Between the World and Me.” At the time, Abrams was serving as minority leader in Georgia’s House of Representatives and had agreed to moderate a conversation with him.

“She said, ‘We’re going to turn Georgia blue,'” Coates recalled.

Although he didn’t share her confidence at the time, Coates said he understood the significance of her conviction.

“I didn’t laugh in her face. I didn’t do that. I wasn’t that disrespectful,” he told the audience. “But I was like, ‘Really, you think so?’ It’s an interesting idea.”

For Coates, the memory demonstrated how much faith and persistence are required to achieve political change, particularly when the people leading those efforts don’t ultimately benefit from the victories themselves.

“Somebody had to believe that. And somebody had to do the organizing work. But she didn’t get to wear the crown,” he said, drawing enthusiastic applause from the audience.

Abrams’ years of voter registration and organizing efforts have been widely credited with helping Democrats become competitive in Georgia. Although she lost her own gubernatorial campaigns in 2018 and 2022, Georgia voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, and Democrats won both of the state’s U.S. Senate seats in the following runoff elections.

Her work also helped lay the groundwork for the political shifts that have continued to reshape Georgia.

Coates’ remarks came during “Where Do We Go From Here? A Conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates on Race and American Democracy,” hosted by the Sheila Y. Oliver Center for Politics and Race in America. The event featured a moderated discussion with center director and Rutgers professor James Jones about the country’s political future following the midterms.

While acknowledging that political leaders, including former President Barack Obama, are not beyond criticism, Coates cautioned against dismissing the emotional significance of electoral victories for the communities that fought to achieve them.

He pointed to the image of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson crying during Obama’s historic 2008 presidential victory as an example of the generations of struggle represented in a single political moment.

“You gotta believe Jesse Jackson’s crying was sincere,” Coates said.

He encouraged the audience to recognize the contributions of those who came before them, as well as those still doing the work.

“I think, like, you owe it to your forebearers, ancestors, sometimes your contemporaries themselves, and your comrades, to respect their struggle enough to feel the joy, and then wake up tomorrow, and be able to do the work nonetheless.”