JUST IN: Head of Stacey Abrams’ Troubled Voting Rights Nonprofit Is Stepping Down * 100PercentFedUp.com * by Kaley

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The head of the nonprofit ‘voting rights’ organization founded by Democrat State Rep. Stacey Abrams just announced that he is stepping down.

Francys Johnson told staff that the organization, called the New Georgia Project, will be entering a “new era” soon and that he will be resigning as leader.

This comes shortly after the nonprofit was hit with a huge ethics fine for failure to disclose millions of dollars in political funding towards Abrams’ 2018 gubernatorial campaign.

It also comes amid a wave of employee layoffs within the organization, which many employees say happened to punish them for trying to unionize.

Take a look at what’s happening:

Atlanta Journal-Constitution broke the news:

The head of the voter registration project founded by Stacey Abrams is resigning as the organization struggles with a historic state fine, layoffs and deepening tensions with the Democratic star who launched the group a decade ago.

Francys Johnson told New Georgia Project staffers during a private meeting on Monday that a “new era” for the organization would soon be underway and that he was stepping down as chair of the voting rights advocacy group.

“I’ve probably done all the good I can do, and my presence is a distraction to our mission. It’s unfortunate, and it’s a reality I can recognize,” he said in a recording of the call obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s time to let the organization move forward beyond all this.”

Reached late Monday, Johnson declined further comment. It’s not immediately clear how quickly he will step down…

Once a cornerstone of the state’s political infrastructure, the New Georgia Project was credited with registering tens of thousands of left-leaning voters who helped turn Georgia into a political battleground.

But former staffers say the organization was so mired in internal turmoil that it played a diminished role in the 2024 election. Abrams and another former leader, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, have both distanced themselves from its current operations. Abrams left the group in 2017, while Warnock stepped down as chair before his 2020 Senate bid.

“The setbacks at New Georgia Project are disappointing and my thoughts are with those laid off,” Abrams previously told the AJC in a statement that noted the NGP took on “new leadership and a new legal entity” after she stepped down to run for governor.

New Georgia Project’s struggles peaked in January when it was slapped with a record-breaking $300,000 fine — the largest ever for violating Georgia campaign finance laws — for illegally supporting Abrams’ first gubernatorial bid in 2018.

Atlanta News First added more:

In a statement to Atlanta News First, Johnson said, “It’s time. Not only have I served longer than both my predecessors, the organization must retool following last year’s election. In 2 years Georgia will elect a new Governor and make a choice on whether to send Senator Jon Ossoff back to the U.S. Senate. Its a great time to bring in fresh perspectives.”

The New Georgia Project was founded in 2013 by then-state Rep. Stacey Abrams, a DeKalb County Democrat who would later mount two unsuccessful campaigns for governor. The project’s goal was to register more nonwhite and young voters in Georgia and to urge them to turn out.

The organization has had a controversial run lately.

It was fined $300,000 in January after the Georgia Ethics Commission said it illegally did election work for Abrams in January; it then fired close to 20 people.

Jasmine Keith, one of the employees fired, said it was in retaliation for trying to unionize.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport.

View the original article here.