Abrams-founded org, facing mounting debts, prepares to close up shop
Once-powerful Abrams group ceasing key operations as debts, legal fees pile up
The national voting rights organization that was launched by two-time gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is preparing to close up shop as it grapples with mounting debts resulting from lengthy and largely unsuccessful court battles.
Abrams, who was once seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party, launched Fair Fight Action in 2018 after her first loss to Republican Brian Kemp. The liberal organization quickly became a fundraising behemoth, collecting $100 million within just three years and even spooking her Republican rivals into launching voter mobilization networks of their own.
But now, facing $2.5 million in outstanding debts and a dripping small-dollar donation spigot, Fair Fight will be ceasing many of the operations that have been central to the organization, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported Tuesday. This includes raising money, advertising, social media blitzes, voter outreach and hiring outside vendors. Additionally, the group will be slashing its workforce by roughly 75 percent.
Lauren Groh-Wargo, who managed both of Abrams’ unsuccessful campaigns for governor and helped spearhead the launch of Fair Fight, will be returning as C.E.O. on an interim basis to oversee what is being called a “restructuring.”
The group had been hailed for its voter outreach efforts and was widely credited with laying the groundwork for Democratic presidential and U.S. Senate victories in Georgia during the 2020 election. It also served as a launching pad for Abrams as she prepared for what would be another losing battle against Kemp in 2022.
Despite notching key victories at the ballot box, Fair Fight’s legal efforts have not been as successful. Their most recent court defeat came this month when federal judges rejected Fair Fight’s claim that a right-leaning group was engaging in intimidation tactics by seeking to nix some 250,000 active voter registrations.
The group has also lost several challenges to Georgia’s new Republican-crafted voting laws and was ordered to repay election officials part of the money they were forced to spend defending the state in these lawsuits.
Attached to all of those court losses is a hefty price tag: the group has had to shell out more than $25 million in legal fees since 2021, according to Politico.
“Of that, $9.4 million went to a small law firm headed by Abrams’ onetime gubernatorial campaign chairwoman, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of Fair Fight’s tax filings.”
Groh-Wargo says that Fair Fight plans to help outgoing employees land on their feet and that Abrams will play a key role in charting a path forward for the once-powerful organization.
“I care a lot about the mission of the organization, I’m grateful for the staff and its work, and I want to chart a path forward for its future,” Groh-Wargo told the AJC about her return to the helm.
Many Republicans were quick to mock the demise of a group that has spent years pummeling them on social media and in television commercials. One former Kemp advisor reacted to the news by sharing a popular animation of Jerry Seinfeld uttering, “That’s a shame.”