Stacey Abrams among long list of nominees for Nobel Peace Prize

Published Mon, Feb 1 2021 12:38 PM EST

Courtney Connley

Representative Stacey Abrams speaks onstage at the National Town Hall on the second day of the 48th Annual Congressional Black Caucus Foundation on September 13, 2018 in Washington, DC.

Earl Gibson III | Getty Images

Voting rights activist and politician Stacey Abrams has been nominated by a Norwegian lawmaker for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, Reuters reports.

Abrams, who played a critical role in helping to register thousands of voters for the 2020 presidential election and Senate runoff election in Georgia, is being nominated for her work to "promote nonviolent change via the ballot box."

"Abrams' work follows in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s footsteps in the fight for equality before the law and for civil rights," Lars Haltbrekken, a Socialist Party member of Norway's parliament, said.

King was first nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1963 and was eventually given the award in 1964 for his "nonviolent campaign against racism," The Nobel Peace Prize recently tweeted.

Abrams joins a long list of other nominees for this year's award including the World Health Organization, Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, former President Donald Trump, former White House adviser Jared Kushner, climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Petter Eide, a Socialist Left member of Norway's parliament, wrote in his nomination letter that he was nominating Black Lives Matter "for their struggle against racism and racially motivated violence," adding that the movement's "call for systemic change have spread around the world, forcing other countries to grapple with racism within their own societies."

Every year, nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize come from thousands of people around the world, including members of government and former winners of the award. A nomination does not mean that an individual or organization will actually be considered for the prize by the Nobel committee and the committee does not offer comment on any of the nominated candidates. The winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize is expected to be announced in October.

Past winners of the prestigious award include former U.S. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama; former South African President Nelson Mandela; and female education activist Malala Yousafzai.

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