Stacey Abrams, a politician who is being credited with a large Democratic turnout in the traditionally Republican state Georgia, has been speaking on CNN about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s win.

“It is a privilege in this nation to be able to see yourself reflected in the face of leadership,” she said.

“For African-Americans and Indian-Americans, Kamala Harris signals that the face of leadership does change. We do have a role to play beyond being supporters – it shows that we can be the leaders in this country.”

Abrams ran to be Georgia governor in 2018. After a narrow loss (she never officially conceded) she pledged to mobilise voters in a state where accusations have long been made about the disenfranchisement of black voters. Since then, hundreds of thousands more African-Americans have registered to vote.

“We’ve been working on this for more than a decade,” Abrams said.

Georgia is yet to be projected and will go to a recount. The latest count shows Biden is ahead by 10,196 votes. Democrats haven’t won the state since 1992.

Two Senate races in Georgia will go to a run-off election in January, giving Democrats hope of still flipping the Senate from Republican control.