Fair Fight Action is a Georgia-based voting rights nonprofit founded by Stacey Abrams in late 2018 after her narrow loss in the state’s gubernatorial race. The group works to combat voter suppression, protect ballot access, and support Democratic electoral infrastructure through litigation, voter protection programs, and public advocacy. After raising roughly $100 million in its first few years and expanding into 18 states, Fair Fight laid off about three-quarters of its staff in early 2024 under the weight of litigation debt. It remains active, now focused on opposing federal voter-ID legislation, contesting redistricting, and responding to a 2026 Supreme Court ruling that narrowed the Voting Rights Act.
Why the Group Was Founded
Abrams lost the 2018 Georgia governor’s race to Brian Kemp by fewer than 55,000 votes, an election marked by reports of long lines, precinct closures, and large-scale voter roll purges that she attributed to deliberate suppression. Rather than pursue a recount, she launched Fair Fight to channel that energy into an ongoing organization.
“In the wake of the election, my mission was to figure out what work could I do, even if I didn’t have the title of governor,” Abrams said. “What work could I do to enhance or protect our democracy?”1NPR. Stacey Abrams Spearheads Fair Fight, a Campaign Against Voter Suppression
CEO Lauren Groh-Wargo, who has led the group since its founding, has framed the mission in candid partisan terms. “We also happen to think that when all Americans are able to vote, Democrats win.”1NPR. Stacey Abrams Spearheads Fair Fight, a Campaign Against Voter Suppression
How It Is Organized
Fair Fight operates through two entities. Fair Fight Action Inc. is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit that has been tax-exempt since September 2014, using a corporate shell that predates the current mission and traces to the New Georgia Project launched that year.2Georgia Trend. Catching Up With Lauren Groh-Wargo Fair Fight PAC, registered with the Federal Election Commission in January 2019, handles political fundraising and candidate contributions.3Federal Election Commission. Fair Fight PAC Committee Page The PAC is a hybrid committee, or Carey committee, meaning it can maintain both a traditional contribution account and a super PAC-style independent expenditure account, though it has reported zero independent expenditures in recent cycles.4OpenSecrets. Fair Fight PAC Summary 2024
What Fair Fight Actually Does
The organization’s work has three main strands: litigation against state election laws, direct voter protection during elections, and public advocacy against restrictive legislation.
By early 2020, Fair Fight had spent more than $1 million placing staff in 18 battleground states to set up voter hotlines, deploy voter protection teams for primary elections, and run “Democracy Warrior” workshops that trained volunteers on verifying registration and requesting provisional ballots. Abrams personally traveled to states like Florida to hold town halls with college students on voting protections.1NPR. Stacey Abrams Spearheads Fair Fight, a Campaign Against Voter Suppression
Political scientist Andra Gillespie said the organization “stands out because it has been able to use the energy around Abrams’s electoral defeat to try to reap benefits for other Democrats.”1NPR. Stacey Abrams Spearheads Fair Fight, a Campaign Against Voter Suppression
The Lawsuit That Defined Its Early Years
Fair Fight’s signature legal effort was Fair Fight Action v. Raffensperger, filed in November 2018 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The suit challenged Georgia’s voter roll purges, absentee ballot cancellation procedures, identification-matching protocols, and handling of felon voter records, arguing they violated the Voting Rights Act, the Equal Protection Clause, and the Fifteenth Amendment.5Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. Fair Fight Action v. Raffensperger
The case did not go Fair Fight’s way. In December 2019, U.S. District Judge Steve Jones denied a preliminary injunction to halt the state’s voter purge.6Campaign Legal Center. Fair Fight Action v. Raffensperger – Opinion After a bench trial in the spring of 2022, Judge Jones ruled for the defendants on September 30, 2022. He found that Fair Fight had legal standing but had failed to prove its claims, concluding that absentee ballot training did not burden voters, that the state was not liable for felon-matching problems in the voter rolls, and that Georgia’s identification and citizenship-matching policies did not violate federal law.5Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. Fair Fight Action v. Raffensperger Fair Fight was ordered to pay $231,303.71 in costs.
The MacArthur Foundation had provided a $1 million grant in 2021 specifically to support the litigation.7MacArthur Foundation. Fair Fight Action Inc The overall cost of the case, and of related legal work, became a turning point for the organization’s finances.
Fundraising Boom, Then Collapse
Between 2018 and 2021, Fair Fight raised approximately $103 million, a striking sum for a voting rights group.8The Hill. Fair Fight Lays Off Staff1NPR. Stacey Abrams Spearheads Fair Fight, a Campaign Against Voter Suppression9Proteus Fund. Fair Fight Action
The picture changed after Abrams’s second gubernatorial loss in 2022. Groh-Wargo had left Fair Fight to manage that campaign, and by January 2024, Fair Fight was $2.5 million in debt with only $1.9 million in cash on hand.10The New York Times. Fair Fight Layoffs
On January 30, 2024, Fair Fight laid off roughly three-quarters of its staff, about 19 to 20 employees, blaming mounting debts from “landmark lawsuits” and the extended, expensive nature of voting rights litigation.8The Hill. Fair Fight Lays Off Staff11The Washington Post. Fair Fight Layoffs Georgia Abrams Groh-Wargo returned as interim chief executive to oversee the restructuring. Board chair Salena Jegede said the organization would “adapt to this new phase of the fight for democracy by restructuring the organization to focus on how we serve Georgia and American voters for the 2024 cycle and beyond.”
For the current cycle running January 2025 through March 2026, the PAC has raised about $3.5 million and spent roughly $5.1 million, leaving just $468,000 in cash, a fraction of its former resources.3Federal Election Commission. Fair Fight PAC Committee Page
What Fair Fight Is Fighting Now
Georgia’s Election Integrity Act of 2021, known as SB 202, remains a central target. The law added voter identification requirements for absentee ballots, limited ballot drop box placement, and gave the state legislature more authority over county election boards. Fair Fight argues it disproportionately harms Black voters by restricting drop box access in Black communities and raising absentee ballot rejections. The Justice Department filed its own suit challenging SB 202 under the Biden administration; Attorney General Pam Bondi dismissed that case on March 31, 2025. Groh-Wargo responded, “Dismissing this case doesn’t change the truth, it just proves Trump’s DOJ will not work to protect Americans’ freedom to vote.”12Fair Fight Action. DOJ Drops Voting Rights Case, Fair Fight Responds
At the federal level, Fair Fight is campaigning against the SAVE America Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act), which would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote, impose strict photo ID requirements for federal elections, mandate that states run voter rolls through a federal verification system, and create criminal penalties for election officials who register applicants without proper documentation.13National Conference of State Legislatures. 9 Things to Know About the Proposed SAVE America Act The bill passed the U.S. House in February 2026 and moved to Senate debate the following month. Fair Fight has called it “a dangerous effort to block millions from voting.”14Fair Fight Action. The Latest From Fair Fight
The group has also mounted a response to the Supreme Court’s April 2026 decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which reshaped Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The ruling, authored by Justice Samuel Alito, held that plaintiffs challenging a district map must prove the state drew the lines based on race rather than partisanship, and must show that racial bloc voting cannot be explained by party affiliation alone.15Harvard Kennedy School. What Louisiana v. Callais Means for the Voting Rights Act Given the tight correlation between race and party in the South, legal scholars have said the standard makes successful Section 2 challenges “incredibly difficult, if not impossible.” Partnering with the Black Voters Matter Fund, Fair Fight released reports estimating the decision could enable the creation of 19 new Republican-held U.S. House seats and the elimination of 191 largely Black-majority state legislative seats.16Fair Fight Action. Supreme Court Rips Away Core Voting Rights Protection The organization is calling on blue-state leaders to redraw maps, Southern legislators to file pro-voter legislation, and community organizers to mobilize for the November 2026 midterms.
Who Runs It
Lauren Groh-Wargo serves as CEO and co-founder. Originally from Ohio, she is a political strategist with more than two decades of experience who managed both of Abrams’s gubernatorial campaigns and is credited with helping secure Georgia’s two Democratic Senate victories in January 2021.17Joyce Vance, Substack. Five Questions With Lauren Groh-Wargo Salena Jegede chairs the board. Glen Paul Freedman serves as treasurer of Fair Fight PAC.3Federal Election Commission. Fair Fight PAC Committee Page The organization is headquartered in Atlanta.