Stacey Abrams announced that more than $6 million has been raised to help voting efforts for the Georgia Senate runoff election, which has become the focus of nationwide interest. The election will be a crucial race in determining which political party has control of the Senate. 

Abrams worked with dozens of other activists and community leaders, many of whom are Black women, to bring out new voters in hopes of flipping the now Republican-dominated state of Georgia to one where Democrats have a fighting chance.

Due to the efforts of a number of voting rights groups like the New Georgia Project and Abrams' Fair Fight, Georgia will be holding a special election on January 5, 2021, for both of the state's Senate seats.

Democrats Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock will be taking on Republican incumbents Senator David Perdue and Senator Kelly Loeffler.

Perdue received slightly more votes than Ossoff on Election Day, according to the Associated Press. But the race was close enough that a runoff was scheduled.

Loeffler was appointed to the U.S. Senate in December 2018 by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to replace retiring Senator Johnny Isakson.

While Loeffler's tenure in office has been short, it also has been filled with controversy. According to The Wall Street Journal, both Loeffler and Perdue were caught selling stocks in specific industries after a confidential COVID-19 meeting for senators on Jan. 24.

Despite joining other Republicans in downplaying the deadly virus, CNN reported that Loeffler made 26 transactions after the hearing and brought in more than $3 million. She also bought stocks in other companies that saw a huge increase in price once it became clear the pandemic would affect everyday life.

Perdue made more than 100 transactions after the hearing, selling nearly $1 million in stocks and buying $185,000 worth of stocks in DuPont, a company that makes personal protective equipment, Business Insider reported. 

Abrams did not waste time in ramping up fundraising efforts for both races. Just days after the election, Abrams was on Twitter asking for donations so that groups on the ground could get back to work ahead of the Dec. 7 deadline to register to vote.  

Due to her outstanding work in Georgia, many are calling for Abrams to be given a larger role within the Democratic party. Abrams and many others have criticized the party in recent days for hyper focusing on candidates and not supporting ground level efforts. 

In an interview with CBS, Abrams explained that the party had to invest in groups on the ground so that no matter what candidate runs, they can be supported. 

"The big difference was our ability to really maintain a consistent effort. So many groups have been doing this work for a long time but its feast or famine. When there's a candidate who wants to invest you'll get the resources and then you're just struggling to get by and we were able to create a bit of sustainability in the infrastructure, which meant that we could win again and again and build up to this big victory in November," she said. 

Georgia-Senate-RacesGeorgia-Voter-SuppressionJon OssoffRalphael-Warnockstacey abrams