"There is a reason that Atlanta has a mayor named Keisha, and that reason is because we are called to be a voice to be those who don’t have a voice," said Bottoms said on July 15th while quoting poet Audre Lorde. "When you go and vote, remember there’s a woman on the ballot named Stacey."
Abrams is a former member of Georgia House of Representatives and the Democratic nominee in the gubernatorial race. She will face Republican nominee Brian Kemp, the Georgia secretary of state, in the general election on November 6, 2018.
Abrams, an alumna of Spelman College, has pledged to boost state spending for HBCUs in Georgia if she wins the governorship.
Back in May the four major contenders for the Democratic nod in the Florida gubernatorial race, Andrew Gillum, Gwen Graham, Chris King, and Philip Levine, all posted messages of praise for Abrams on Twitter. But none of them have announced a detailed plan to increase state support for historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) like Abrams has. Newcomer Jeff Greene hasn't done so, either.
Georgia has three public HBCUs: Albany State University, Fort Valley State University, and Savannah State University. It also has seven private HBCUs: Clark Atlanta University, Interdenominational Theological Center, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine, Morris Brown College, Paine College, and Spelman College.
The issues pages on the campaign websites for the major Democratic gubernatorial candidates in Florida all have statements about supporting education, but don’t say how much more state money or what types of new funding they will promise for the HBCUs in Florida.
The four HBCUs in Florida are: Florida A&M University, Bethune-Cookman University, Edward Waters College, and Florida Memorial University.
