Abrams Campaign on Maskless Photo Surrounded by Masked Children: ‘Stacey Trusts Science’

Stacey Abrams’ campaign responded on Sunday to the massive uproar over Abrams’ viral maskless photo, accusing critics of the photo of “using a Black History Month reading event” to attack Abrams and claiming Abrams “trusts science.”

Lauren Groh-Wargo, campaign manager for Abrams’ gubernatorial race, first responded to the backlash Sunday afternoon by taking swipes at the Georgia Democrat’s top two potential race opponents, incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp (R) and former Sen. David Perdue (R-GA), after both chastised Abrams for displaying “hypocrisy” in the photo.

Groh-Wargo wrote on social media, “Our opponents took a brief break from licking Trump’s boots this weekend to issue baseless attacks” and then claimed, “Our opponents are using a Black History Month reading event for Georgia children as the impetus for a false political attack.”

Groh-Wargo then proceeded to berate both Perdue and Kemp without using their names:

Our opponents took a brief break from licking Trump’s boots this weekend to issue baseless attacks, and it’s more of their typical dishonest, wannabe tough guy fodder to distract from their failures. See the @staceyabrams campaign response here 👇 pic.twitter.com/zOoTvkKKQg

— Lauren Groh-Wargo (@gwlauren) February 6, 2022

On Friday, Glennwood Elementary School principal Holly Brookins shared a photo on social media featuring Abrams as the sole maskless individual in a room surrounded by dozens of masked young children, noting Abrams had visited the school to read her book as part of an “African-American Read-In” event for Black History Month.

Abrams then shared the photo on her own social media account, but both Brookins and Abrams soon deleted their posts as outrage swelled over the visual of the masked children juxtaposed with Abrams smiling front row center.

Hi @staceyabrams and @hmbrookins, why did both of you delete these tweets? pic.twitter.com/6rdmT2iHIj

— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) February 6, 2022

The elementary school, located in Decatur, which is a city within Atlanta Metro’s deeply Democrat Dekalb County, forces its young students to wear masks inside the building, according to the school website.

Critics of the photo largely emphasized that they found school-enforced masking of children — who are at low risk for severe illness from coronavirus — to be anywhere from disturbing to dehumanizing to “child abuse.”

Groh-Wargo’s response to the photo backlash was met with fresh waves of anger as commenters pointed out that her remarks lacked any semblance of apology or explanation. The campaign manager then seemingly realized a follow-up was needed and added additional context early Sunday evening.

“Stacey trusts science and supports masking in schools as its the current CDC recommendation,” Groh-Wargo wrote.

Then, inadvertently highlighting one of the detrimental effects of masking, Groh-Wargo explained that Abrams removed her mask while speaking at the podium so that students watching remotely could hear her. She added that Abrams also removed her mask for photos, “but only with folks who were masked.”

Stacey trusts science and supports masking in schools as it’s the current CDC recommendation. She wore a mask to the event, and removed it at the podium so she could be heard by students watching remotely and for photos, but only with folks who were masked https://t.co/nbl2aJRqo0

— Lauren Groh-Wargo (@gwlauren) February 6, 2022

Late into Sunday evening, the photo of Abrams and the subsequent remarks from her campaign continued to attract negative attention from local and national political figures and pundits, but Abrams and her campaign have remained silent since her campaign manager’s last comments.

Write to Ashley Oliver at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @asholiver.