A conversation with Stacey Abrams The Georgia politician sat down with Ben Jealous, visiting scholar and former NAACP leader, to discuss topics from gerrymandering to romance novels in a virtual discussion. Stacey Abrams and Ben Jealous during their virtual talk at Penn. After Stacey Abrams lost the 2018 Georgia governor’s race, she said she was “the saddest I’ve ever been and the most worthless I’ve ever felt.” She gave herself 10 days to grieve, watch TV, feel depressed and mad, and then she transformed those emotions into action. “Ambition doesn’t allow itself to be rewarded by not getting what you want. Sometimes it’s an opportunity to expand how you think about it, or understand what you need to do differently,” she told the virtual audience in a conversation at Penn. “I got through those bouts by remembering why I do it, remembering my job isn’t to win; it is to move forward.”