In her rebuttal, Abrams says U.S. doesn’t ‘succeed alone’

ATLANTA — Stacey Abrams stepped onto the biggest stage of her political career Tuesday and accused President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans of abandoning working Americans and fomenting partisan and cultural discord.

The Georgia Democrat introduced herself to the nation months after narrowly losing her bid to become America’s first black female governor. Instead, she became the first black woman to deliver a State of the Union response.

Speaking from a union hall in Atlanta, Ms. Abrams combined her party’s vision of a more unified society with her personal story as a black daughter of the Deep South.

“These were our family values: faith, service, education and responsibility,” she said, arguing for “this uncommon grace of community.”

“We do not succeed alone,” she added. “In these United States, when times are tough, we can persevere because our friends and neighbors will come for us.”

Ms. Abrams identified Mr. Trump as architect of a 35day partial government shutdown that ended last month, though a possible reprise looms in the coming weeks. “The shutdown was a stunt engineered by the president of the United States,” Ms. Abrams said, “one that defied every tenet of fairness and abandoned not just our people, but our values.”

Ms. Abrams’ selection by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was a nod to her rising political fortunes despite her defeat last year. Encouraged by her ability to push Republicanrun Georgia toward battleground status, Mr. Schumer is trying to persuade Ms. Abrams to run for a Republican-held Senate seat in 2020 — two years after she won more votes than any Democrat in Georgia history, including presidential candidates.

It was also a symbolic nod to the power and influence of black women — and all women — in anchoring the Democratic base, a reality also on display as Mr. Trump delivered his address. He looked out on the largest contingent of women ever assembled in Congress, many of them clad in white to honor the suffragists of the early 20th century.

Responding to the president’s most high-profile speech is one of the toughest jobs in politics. Ms. Abrams appeared to avoid the pitfalls that have left burgeoning young politicians subject to ridicule: Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida for repeatedly drinking water, Democratic Rep. Joe Kennedy III for his excess ChapStick.

Ms. Abrams spoke in her hometown, with an audience that included workers, activists, labor leaders, health care professionals, educators, entrepreneurs and voters who her aides say had trouble casting their ballots in 2018.