INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Abrams aims to turn a Republican-controlled state by mobilizing black voters
(Reuters)
Democratic voters rallied on
Tuesday for the chance to make history in November by selecting a ticket filled with female candidates, including a bid to elect the first
African-American female governor in the United States.Stacey Abrams won the party's nomination for governor in Georgia, where she faces long
odds in a Republican-dominated southern state testing divergent Democratic strategies.She was among a slate of candidates selected by voters
in four states to advance to the November midterm elections
Contests in Texas and Kentucky also moved women to the forefront of the fight for the U.S
House of Representatives, where Democrats need to wrest 23 seats from Republicans to gain control.Several races were a referendum on
divisions within the Democratic party.Kentucky Democrats picked a female former Marine fighter pilot, Amy McGrath, in a snub to the party
House seat district that Democrats hope to put into play
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) had promoted her opponent, Lexington Mayor Jim Gray, to take on U.S
Representative Andy Barr, the Republican incumbent, in November.Runoff contests in Texas also showed the potency of the record numbers of
women running, especially on the Democratic ticket, in the first national election since Republican President Donald Trump won the White
House in 2016.In Texas, two women backed by the national Democrats won the nomination for competitive House seats.Iraq war veteran Gina
Ortiz Jones hopes to blaze a trail as a lesbian and Filipina-American in her bid to unseat Republican Congressman Will Hurd.Lawyer Lizzie
Pannill Fletcher won the party's nomination to challenge Republican U.S
Representative John Culberson in Houston's affluent suburbs.She beat Laura Moser, a progressive previously targeted by opposition research
by the DCCC.Also in Texas, Democrats nominated Lupe Valdez to run against Republican Governor Greg Abbott
A Latina and former sheriff, Valdez is seen as a long-shot in the conservative state to become the first openly lesbian governor in the
country.In Georgia, history was already being written as Abrams became the first black female in the United States to win a major party's
nomination for governor, according to the Gender Watch project, a nonpartisan group tracking elections."Our state's rich and complicated
history courses through our memories on nights like tonight, when the unexpected becomes the truth," Abrams told supporters, recalling
Georgia's place in the civil rights movement.In the contest for an open seat, Abrams aims to turn a Republican-controlled state by
mobilizing black voters - a strongly Democratic demographic group that often skips off-year elections - to form a winning coalition with
white progressives.Abrams defeated Stacey Evans, a white candidate who argued Democrats could not win without also persuading white moderate
voters who can swing between parties.The Republican primary for Georgia's governorship was headed to a runoff between Lieutenant Governor
"Casey" Cagle and Secretary of State Brian Kemp in a contest where gun rights has been a key issue.In Arkansas, Republican Governor Asa
Hutchinson won his primary.© Thomson Reuters 2018(This story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is auto-generated from
