Tonight Stacey Abrams showed herself to be a woman of intelligence, courage, honor, and compassion who cares about our people and nation. I would be proud to work with her on anything or to have her represent me in some capacity. I say this in two senses.

I spent the first eleven years of my life in a small town in south Georgia. It was a profoundly racist culture -- one in which all institutions were racially segregated, in which I was taught that I was not to address Black men as "sir", one in which a classmate chastised me because she saw me playing with some Black boys. I am proud to say that I have overcome the lingering effects of that culture and that I can and do recognize and honor Ms. Abrams for who she is and what she has accomplished -- and for what she will yet accomplish.