Biden says Stacey Abrams 'can be anything' she wants - including president
- President Joe Biden on Thursday praised Stacey Abrams during a drive-in rally in Georgia.
- "Stacey Abrams can be anything she wants to be, from whatever she chooses to president," he said.
- Biden came to Georgia to tout his first 100 days office; he also visited former president Carter.
President Joe Biden on Thursday praised former Georgia state House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, saying she could be president one day amid speculation that she will enter the state's 2022 gubernatorial race.
Biden, who won Georgia in last year's presidential election, commemorated his 100th day in office at a drive-in car rally in suburban Atlanta, where he kicked off the White House's "Getting America Back on Track" tour to boost his roughly $4 trillion infrastructure and social safety net spending plans.
During his remarks, the president thanked Abrams for her voting rights activism, saying that she was "empowering people to vote and to make their voices heard."
"Stacey Abrams can be anything she wants to be, from whatever she chooses to president," he said.
He added: "You've been amazing."
In her remarks, Abrams praised the administration's "100 days of greatness."
"We've got a 100 days behind us, but we've got a long way to go," she said.
Biden had kind words for Georgia voters, along with Democratic Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, who played a major role in the passage of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that he signed into law in March.
"We owe a special thanks to the people of Georgia," he said. "Because of you, the rest of America was able to get help. The American Rescue Plan would not have passed. So much have we gotten done, like getting checks to people, probably would not have happened, so, if you ever wonder if elections make a difference, just remember what you did here in Georgia ... You changed America."
Georgia was one of the hardest-fought states in last year's presidential election; former President Donald Trump's statewide loss resulted in his campaign's repeated efforts to overturn the state's election results.
In US Senate runoff elections this past January, Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff defeated Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, handing control of the upper chamber to Biden's party.
Over the past decade, Abrams helped register hundreds of thousands of new voters in the state.
Last year, Abrams led voter organizing efforts aimed at helping Warnock and Ossoff through Fair Fight, the national voting rights organization that she started after her gubernatorial loss.
The results were a critical electoral breakthrough for the Democratic Party in the Deep South state.
Abrams, who was the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial nominee, came up short to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp by roughly 55,000 votes in a race that was marred by allegations of voter suppression.
Kemp narrowly won the election with 50.2% of the vote, to Abrams's 48.8% share of the vote.
Abrams has not yet indicated her decision regarding the race, but a GOP group has already started a "Stop Stacey" campaign.
While in Georgia, the president and first lady Jill Biden also visited former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter, according to CNN.
The former president, who was unable to attend Biden's inauguration in January, is a longtime friend and political ally of Biden.