Weeks after losing her second attempt to become the governor of Georgia, Stacey Abrams might already have her eyes on a new position: the federal government’s top telecommunications regulator.
The Democrat asked members of the Biden administration to appoint her as the next chair of the Federal Communications Commission, an agency responsible for regulating cable, radio, satellite, television, and other mechanisms for interstate or international communications, according to a report from industry publication Communications Daily, which cited unnamed lobbyists familiar with the matter.
Michael Holloman, a spokesman for Abrams, nevertheless said in a statement to Fox Business that Abrams has “not applied for or sought out a position” at the regulatory agency.
Abrams, the former minority leader in the Georgia House of Representatives, lost her gubernatorial rematch against Republican incumbent Brian Kemp by an eight-point margin earlier this month after narrowly succumbing to the nominee four years ago.
The White House has been attempting to nominate Gigi Sohn, who served as a counselor to former FCC Chair Tom Wheeler and a co-founder of nonprofit interest group Public Knowledge, to serve as the head of the agency, although she may not have a sufficient number of votes to be confirmed by the Senate before the next Congress assumes power in January. Didier Barjon, a legislative assistant for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), is on the shortlist to be tapped by the Biden administration, according to Communications Daily.
If the outlet’s report is correct, the moonshot attempt for Abrams to gain a high-profile appointment from President Joe Biden would not have been her first. When the former vice president clinched the Democratic nomination for the White House in the spring of 2020, Abrams promoted herself as a possible running mate. “I have the capacity to attract voters by motivating typically ignored communities,” she asserted. “I have a strong history of executive and management experience in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors.”
A report from Politico found that Abrams had been calling Democratic leadership and begging for the post. Biden, who promised during the primaries that he would choose a woman as his running mate, ultimately selected then-Senator Kamala Harris of California.
For months after Abrams lost the 2018 gubernatorial election, she made national headlines for claiming that the election was stolen from her due to purported voter suppression and never offered a formal concession to Kemp, ultimately launching the activist group Fair Fight Action to combat the alleged civil rights abuse. Though she has since denied that she denied the election, Abrams announced as late as 2019, “Despite the final tally and the inauguration, I do have one very affirmative statement to make: we won.”
Abrams spent much of her second gubernatorial campaign soliciting votes in Democratic strongholds rather than casting a more moderate image. She visited several predominantly black churches, where ministers highlighted her candidacy from the pulpit. The attention from professing faith leaders came despite Abrams claiming that looser restrictions on abortion would help families deal with rising prices. She claimed during one interview that “you cannot divorce being forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy from the economic realities of having a child.”