Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke claimed on “The View” Tuesday that failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams handled her defeat with grace.
The former Texas rep.’s comments came in spite of the fact that the Georgia Democrat has spent the months since that election claiming that she won.
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Co-host Joy Behar brought up the topic, noting that O’Rourke had mentioned Abrams over the weekend as someone he might like to have in his own administration.
“She doesn’t want to be vice president,” Behar said. “We know that. She’s been here. We like her. She’s lovely and smart. But somebody — who else? One of the others said they would have a woman on the ticket, somebody else, not you. Would you have a woman?”
“Cory Booker.” Meghan McCain reminded her.
O’Rourke responded, saying that he had been talking about the many highly qualified women who are already running for president — or who may announce their candidacies in the coming months — and meant that he would be fortunate to work alongside any of them.
O’Rourke explained:
There are a number of women who aren’t running who may run, including Stacey Abrams, who is a real hero to me. The grace with which she met that defeat on an unfair, unlevel playing field for the Secretary of State, perhaps rigging in part that election, her focus on democracy forum, a new voting rights act, ensuring that every single vote counts in this country is inspiring stuff at a time that our democracy is so badly broken.
Since losing her election in Georgia, Abrams has repeatedly declared that she actually won, refused to ever give an official concession and complaining about voter suppression — to which she attributes Kemp’s victory. (RELATED: Stacey Abrams Maintains That She Won Gubernatorial Election)
O’Rourke concluded by saying that he would be lucky to run a campaign alongside any of a number of qualified women.
“If I were fortunate enough to be the nominee, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where I wouldn’t be fortunate enough to also be able to run with one of these extraordinary women in our country, either a contender now for the nomination or someone who’s currently not contending,” he said. “Very important that our government looks like the people of this country, reflects the genius of America.”