Getty Stacey Abrams
Tonight, Stacey Abrams is giving the Democrats’ official response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union. Stacey Abrams’ speech — the Democrats’ official SOTU response — will begin shortly after Trump’s speech ends.
Most State of the Union speeches last about an hour, although some last closer to 90 minutes on rare occasions. Trump’s speech will begin at 9 p.m. Eastern. This means Stacey Abrams’ speech will likely begin sometime between 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Eastern. If you want to make sure you don’t miss anything, then tune in no later than 10 p.m. Eastern.
You should be able to watch the Democrats’ response on any major cable network. ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, CNN, PBS, and C-SPAN are all going to air not just Trump’s speech, but the Democrats’ response too. The response will also be live streamed.
Stacey Abrams is the first African-American woman to ever give a formal response to a President’s address, ABC News reported.
She caught national attention when she ran for governor of Georgia in November. She lost in a very close and controversial race to Republican Brian Kemp by just about 1.4 percentage points, The Washington Times shared. After contesting the election for about two weeks in hopes of forcing a runoff, she ended her race, but never technically conceded, CNN reported. She said:
So let’s be clear — this is not a speech of concession, because concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true or proper. As a woman of conscience and faith, I cannot concede that. But, my assessment is the law currently allows no further viable remedy. Now, I can certainly bring a new case to keep this one contest alive, but I don’t want to hold public office if I need to scheme my way into the post. Because the title of governor isn’t nearly as important as our shared title — voters. And that is why we fight on
The election was highly controversial since Brian Kemp was Georgia’s Secretary of State, which essentially put him in charge of an election that he was running in. He made a number of decisions during the campaign that many called into question, including posting an Excel file online which shared the personal details of nearly 300,000 absentee voters, including why they voted absentee, TechCrunch reported.
Many see her as a voice of hope for the party’s future. Rep. Ayanna Pressley told ABC News: “I know there were some headlines that characterized her as the future of the Democratic Party. In my estimate, she is the present and the future. She’s shaping the future.”
Many have expressed excitement on Twitter about her speech.
Looking forward to watching @staceyabrams give the Democrat’s #SOTU response tomorrow! <3
I’m so looking forward to watching my old friend @staceyabrams give the response to the #SOTU. There is no greater leader in our nation than her. I believed it when we were 20. I still believe it today.
She, @staceyabrams, continues to make history. And she is building our future. 💪🏼💙💪🏼
