WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.160 Welcome back to the deep dive. You know, I was 00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:04.540 looking through the research for today and it 00:00:04.540 --> 00:00:06.799 got me thinking about political branding. Usually 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:10.339 when a politician gets a nickname, it's it's 00:00:10.339 --> 00:00:13.000 not a compliment. It's usually pretty brutal. 00:00:13.099 --> 00:00:15.099 Oh, absolutely. It's almost always a weapon. 00:00:15.140 --> 00:00:18.899 You think of. Tricky Dick Nixon or Slick Willie 00:00:18.899 --> 00:00:21.460 Clinton. They're these sticky labels that your 00:00:21.460 --> 00:00:23.620 opponents just slap on you to highlight some 00:00:23.620 --> 00:00:26.100 kind of character flaw. It's really negative 00:00:26.100 --> 00:00:28.500 branding 101. Right. It's something you spend 00:00:28.500 --> 00:00:30.440 your entire career trying to scrape off your 00:00:30.440 --> 00:00:32.960 shoe. But today we're unpacking a story where 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:35.380 the exact opposite happened. We're looking at 00:00:35.380 --> 00:00:38.240 a politician who didn't just accept a nickname. 00:00:38.479 --> 00:00:41.039 I mean, she bear hugged it. She made it her own. 00:00:41.159 --> 00:00:43.880 She essentially merged her identity with it until 00:00:43.880 --> 00:00:47.259 it became her legal middle name. abel mabel thomas 00:00:47.259 --> 00:00:51.200 it is one of the most enduring uh self -reinforcing 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:53.700 brands in the history of georgia politics and 00:00:53.700 --> 00:00:56.380 looking at these files you know biographical 00:00:56.380 --> 00:00:59.899 records legislative history Old ballot results. 00:01:00.259 --> 00:01:03.020 We aren't just looking at a Kirky name. We're 00:01:03.020 --> 00:01:05.640 looking at a master class in survival. This is 00:01:05.640 --> 00:01:08.120 a woman who navigated the shark tank of Atlanta 00:01:08.120 --> 00:01:11.500 politics for nearly 40 years. And that's really 00:01:11.500 --> 00:01:14.519 the mission for this deep dive. We want to understand 00:01:14.519 --> 00:01:17.579 how someone survives that long in an arena that, 00:01:17.579 --> 00:01:20.099 well, it usually chews people up and spits them 00:01:20.099 --> 00:01:22.840 out in just a few terms. We're going to trace 00:01:22.840 --> 00:01:24.560 her path from the English Avenue neighborhood 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:27.099 all the way to the Gold Dome and look at the 00:01:27.099 --> 00:01:29.000 kind of resilience it takes. to keep running, 00:01:29.140 --> 00:01:31.659 even when you're losing. And trust me, looking 00:01:31.659 --> 00:01:34.000 at this timeline, there is plenty of leasing 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:36.060 mixed in with the winning. It's not a straight 00:01:36.060 --> 00:01:38.620 line at the top at all. It's a jagged line. So 00:01:38.620 --> 00:01:40.620 let's start at the foundation. Before she was 00:01:40.620 --> 00:01:43.180 able, who was Mabel Thomas? To understand Mabel 00:01:43.180 --> 00:01:45.180 Thomas, you really have to understand the geography. 00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:49.480 She was born November 8, 1957, in Atlanta. But 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:51.719 specifically, she was raised in the English Avenue 00:01:51.719 --> 00:01:53.859 neighborhood. Okay, for our listeners who might 00:01:53.859 --> 00:01:55.739 not be familiar with Atlanta's layout, paint 00:01:55.739 --> 00:01:58.250 the picture for us. Is this like... The wealthy 00:01:58.250 --> 00:02:01.129 suburbs? No, far from it. English Avenue is a 00:02:01.129 --> 00:02:03.469 historic black community just west of downtown. 00:02:03.790 --> 00:02:06.810 Back in the late 50s and 60s, this was a working 00:02:06.810 --> 00:02:10.090 class stronghold. But it's an area that has faced 00:02:10.090 --> 00:02:12.530 pretty significant economic hardship over the 00:02:12.530 --> 00:02:14.909 decades. It's a place that requires a certain 00:02:14.909 --> 00:02:17.189 toughness. And her family background reflects 00:02:17.189 --> 00:02:19.409 that grit, right? Definitely. She was the youngest 00:02:19.409 --> 00:02:22.719 of five children. And her father, Bernard Thomas, 00:02:23.080 --> 00:02:25.539 was a boiler operator. Wait, boiler operator. 00:02:25.800 --> 00:02:28.740 I mean, that's a job that implies heat, pressure, 00:02:28.919 --> 00:02:31.139 getting your hands dirty. Precisely. There is 00:02:31.139 --> 00:02:33.719 no evidence in these files of some political 00:02:33.719 --> 00:02:37.240 dynasty here. No famous uncles, no inherited 00:02:37.240 --> 00:02:39.699 donor network. She didn't start on third base. 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:42.479 She started in the dugout. Now, there's a detail 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:44.599 in her high school and college years that I think 00:02:44.599 --> 00:02:47.000 is just crucial to her psychology. She wasn't 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:48.870 in the debate club. She was in the gym. Right. 00:02:48.969 --> 00:02:50.710 She graduated from Booker II Washington High 00:02:50.710 --> 00:02:53.650 School in 1975. But the pivotal detail for me 00:02:53.650 --> 00:02:56.210 is that she earned a scholarship to play women's 00:02:56.210 --> 00:02:58.629 basketball for the Georgia State Panthers. I 00:02:58.629 --> 00:03:00.069 want to pause on that because I feel like the 00:03:00.069 --> 00:03:02.750 whole athlete, the politician pipeline is a real 00:03:02.750 --> 00:03:06.069 thing. But we rarely break down why. What does 00:03:06.069 --> 00:03:08.229 playing competitive basketball at the college 00:03:08.229 --> 00:03:11.389 level teach you that applies to the state legislature? 00:03:11.689 --> 00:03:14.110 It teaches you two things that are absolutely 00:03:14.110 --> 00:03:17.699 essential for a long career. First, it teaches 00:03:17.699 --> 00:03:20.199 you about spacing, just knowing where you are 00:03:20.199 --> 00:03:22.780 on the court relative to everyone else. In politics, 00:03:22.939 --> 00:03:25.879 that's knowing your coalition. Second, and maybe 00:03:25.879 --> 00:03:28.020 more importantly, it teaches you about the shot 00:03:28.020 --> 00:03:29.919 clock. You have to make decisions under pressure 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:32.819 and you have to have physical endurance. Campaigning 00:03:32.819 --> 00:03:35.639 is exhausting. If you can run lines in practice, 00:03:35.780 --> 00:03:38.159 you can knock on doors for eight hours in July. 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:40.300 That makes so much sense. You build up a tolerance 00:03:40.300 --> 00:03:42.740 for the grind. But she wasn't just running drills. 00:03:42.939 --> 00:03:44.939 The notes say she was also studying something 00:03:44.939 --> 00:03:47.300 very specific while she was at Georgia State. 00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:49.939 This is the key insight for her early career. 00:03:50.099 --> 00:03:52.580 She earned a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration 00:03:52.580 --> 00:03:56.080 in 1982. Okay, help us out here. Public administration 00:03:56.080 --> 00:03:59.479 sounds a little dry. How is that different from, 00:03:59.539 --> 00:04:02.099 say, a political science degree? That's a great 00:04:02.099 --> 00:04:04.560 distinction. Political science is often about 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:07.159 the theory of power campaigns, voting behavior, 00:04:07.340 --> 00:04:10.520 all that. It's the why. Public administration 00:04:10.520 --> 00:04:13.400 is the how. It's the actual mechanics of government. 00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:16.500 It's budgeting. It's zoning laws. It's H .R. 00:04:16.660 --> 00:04:20.160 It's how a bill actually becomes a statute. So 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:23.060 by studying that, Thomas wasn't just learning 00:04:23.060 --> 00:04:25.300 how to get elected. She was learning how the 00:04:25.300 --> 00:04:27.300 machine works once you're inside the building. 00:04:27.500 --> 00:04:30.500 So she walks into the arena knowing the rulebook 00:04:30.500 --> 00:04:32.060 better than the people who are already there. 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:35.139 Exactly. She understood the levers and she didn't 00:04:35.139 --> 00:04:37.680 wait long to pull them. 1984 is the breakout 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:40.160 year in all the documents. 1984. I mean, this 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:42.639 is a massive year in American politics, specifically 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:45.720 for black politics. Huge. Jesse Jackson is running 00:04:45.720 --> 00:04:47.660 for president. It's the Rainbow Coalition era. 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:49.920 Mabel Thomas gets involved as a presidential 00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:52.680 delegate for Jackson at the DNC. That puts her 00:04:52.680 --> 00:04:54.300 right in the room with the national heavyweights. 00:04:54.439 --> 00:04:56.600 But she doesn't just want to be a delegate. She 00:04:56.600 --> 00:04:58.800 decides to run for office herself that same year. 00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:01.699 And looking at this, she makes a decision that 00:05:01.699 --> 00:05:04.819 on paper looks completely irrational. Like a 00:05:04.819 --> 00:05:07.459 suicide mission. Right. She decides to run for 00:05:07.459 --> 00:05:09.199 the Georgia House of Representatives. Yeah. But 00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:11.480 she doesn't run for an open seat. She challenges 00:05:11.480 --> 00:05:14.560 the incumbent, Grace Towns Hamilton, in the Democratic 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:17.040 primary. And Grace Towns Hamilton was the first 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:20.160 African -American woman ever elected to the Georgia 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:23.279 General Assembly. She was a legend. She was known 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:26.319 as the most powerful black woman in Atlanta politics. 00:05:26.420 --> 00:05:28.600 Part of the, you know, the old guard. So you 00:05:28.600 --> 00:05:30.860 have Mabel Thomas, who's in her 20s, walking 00:05:30.860 --> 00:05:33.639 up to a living legend and saying, move over. 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:36.420 It's like a rookie trying to dunk on Michael 00:05:36.420 --> 00:05:38.680 Jordan in their first game. It's not just ambitious. 00:05:39.100 --> 00:05:42.439 It was almost seen as disrespectful by the establishment. 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:44.800 So what was the dynamic there? Was it just new 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:47.240 versus old? It was generational, for sure. You 00:05:47.240 --> 00:05:49.980 had the established civil rights leadership versus 00:05:49.980 --> 00:05:52.560 the post -civil rights generation who wanted, 00:05:52.600 --> 00:05:55.300 you know, faster action, more aggression. And 00:05:55.300 --> 00:05:57.740 against all odds, Thomas won. That victory must 00:05:57.740 --> 00:05:59.899 have sent a shockwave through the city. It did. 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:01.980 It made Mabel Thomas the youngest member of the 00:06:01.980 --> 00:06:03.740 Georgia General Assembly at that time. She was 00:06:03.740 --> 00:06:06.180 the giant killer. And this is right around the 00:06:06.180 --> 00:06:08.860 time the nickname shows up. Legend begins. Right 00:06:08.860 --> 00:06:11.819 around 84, 85, a colleague coined the phrase 00:06:11.819 --> 00:06:14.910 Able Mabel. Is it just because it rhymes? I mean, 00:06:14.930 --> 00:06:16.949 it's catchy, but was there more to it? Well, 00:06:17.050 --> 00:06:20.009 the implication was competence. Able implies 00:06:20.009 --> 00:06:23.399 utility. I'm able to get this done. In a world 00:06:23.399 --> 00:06:25.720 of bureaucratic red tape, being known as the 00:06:25.720 --> 00:06:28.899 person who is able is a very strong value proposition. 00:06:29.220 --> 00:06:30.959 And the fact that she eventually made it her 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:33.139 legal middle name, I just think that's brilliant. 00:06:33.240 --> 00:06:36.319 It's basically SEO for the ballot. It is. Think 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:38.180 about the voter in the booth. They're looking 00:06:38.180 --> 00:06:40.720 at a list of names. Smith, Jones, Thomas, all 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:43.459 blurs together. But Abel Mabel, you remember 00:06:43.459 --> 00:06:46.050 the rhyme? It distinguishes her from... Every 00:06:46.050 --> 00:06:48.350 other name on that list. It's a masterstroke. 00:06:48.550 --> 00:06:50.490 So she's in the House. She's the young star. 00:06:50.750 --> 00:06:55.250 She serves four terms, 1985 to 1993. Most politicians 00:06:55.250 --> 00:06:56.970 would just stay there, build seniority, maybe 00:06:56.970 --> 00:06:59.430 run for speaker. But Thomas does something weird 00:06:59.430 --> 00:07:02.269 in 1997. She leaves the state legislature to 00:07:02.269 --> 00:07:04.529 run for Atlanta City Council. And this is where 00:07:04.529 --> 00:07:07.209 the career weave begins. It confuses a lot of 00:07:07.209 --> 00:07:10.769 political observers. To me, going from the state 00:07:10.769 --> 00:07:13.410 house to the city council feels like a demotion. 00:07:13.910 --> 00:07:16.959 At the state house. You're making laws for millions 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:20.300 of people. City council is all trash pickup. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:24.040 Why make that move? See, I'd challenge the premise 00:07:24.040 --> 00:07:25.920 that it's a demotion. It really depends on what 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:28.459 your goal is. If your goal is prestige and cocktail 00:07:28.459 --> 00:07:30.660 parties, yeah, the statehouse is better. But 00:07:30.660 --> 00:07:33.819 if your goal is tangible impact on your specific 00:07:33.819 --> 00:07:36.680 neighborhood, the city council is where the power 00:07:36.680 --> 00:07:39.259 is. Break that down for us. What can a council 00:07:39.259 --> 00:07:42.170 member do that a state rep can't? Zoning. That 00:07:42.170 --> 00:07:44.569 is the biggest one. The state rep can't stop 00:07:44.569 --> 00:07:46.189 a liquor store from opening next to a school. 00:07:46.310 --> 00:07:48.430 The state rep can't make sure the potholes on 00:07:48.430 --> 00:07:50.589 English Avenue get filled this week. The city 00:07:50.589 --> 00:07:52.569 council controls the police budget, the water 00:07:52.569 --> 00:07:55.629 mains, the trash schedule, land use. For a politician 00:07:55.629 --> 00:07:57.689 like Thomas, who was obsessed with her specific 00:07:57.689 --> 00:08:00.370 slice of West Atlanta, the city council offered 00:08:00.370 --> 00:08:02.790 a toolkit that the state house didn't. She could 00:08:02.790 --> 00:08:04.810 pull levers that immediately changed the view 00:08:04.810 --> 00:08:07.110 out her constituents' windows. That makes perfect 00:08:07.110 --> 00:08:09.290 sense. She wanted to get her hands on the actual 00:08:09.290 --> 00:08:12.240 machinery of the city. So she serves on the council 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:16.019 from 97 to 2002. She's an at -large member, post 00:08:16.019 --> 00:08:18.860 -1. Does at -large mean she represented the whole 00:08:18.860 --> 00:08:21.860 city? Yes. She was elected by the entire city 00:08:21.860 --> 00:08:23.980 of Atlanta, not just one district, so she had 00:08:23.980 --> 00:08:26.980 citywide name recognition. But then the weave 00:08:26.980 --> 00:08:30.839 continues. In 2003, she goes back to the statehouse. 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:33.639 She returns to the Gold Dome. She represents 00:08:33.639 --> 00:08:36.320 District 43, which later becomes District 55, 00:08:36.379 --> 00:08:40.320 and then District 56. I noticed those numbers 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:44.279 jumping around in the note, 31, 43, 55, 56. Was 00:08:44.279 --> 00:08:47.039 she moving houses every few years? No, she stayed 00:08:47.039 --> 00:08:49.460 put. The map moved around her. This is a concept 00:08:49.460 --> 00:08:51.519 called redistricting. Which is always a headache 00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:53.419 to explain. It is, but here's the short version. 00:08:53.879 --> 00:08:56.320 Every 10 years after the census, the legislature 00:08:56.320 --> 00:08:58.919 has to redraw the map so every district has roughly 00:08:58.919 --> 00:09:02.000 the same number of people. A politician can wake 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:03.720 up one morning and find that their street is 00:09:03.720 --> 00:09:05.940 now in a different district or that half their 00:09:05.940 --> 00:09:08.019 voters are new. That sounds chaotic for a career. 00:09:08.200 --> 00:09:10.340 How do you build a base if the lines keep moving? 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:13.519 It kills a lot of careers. But Thomas survived 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:15.940 it because her brand was stronger than the map. 00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:19.139 She consistently represented that core area west 00:09:19.139 --> 00:09:21.740 and southwest of downtown, parts of Midtown. 00:09:22.179 --> 00:09:24.500 No matter what number the state slapped on the 00:09:24.500 --> 00:09:26.700 district, the people in those neighborhoods knew 00:09:26.700 --> 00:09:30.009 Abel Mabel. So we have this picture of a hyper 00:09:30.009 --> 00:09:32.690 -local politician. She knows the streets. She 00:09:32.690 --> 00:09:35.330 knows the zoning codes. But there is this other 00:09:35.330 --> 00:09:38.289 side to her file that seems completely contradictory. 00:09:38.889 --> 00:09:41.070 While she's grinding it out in local office, 00:09:41.210 --> 00:09:44.169 she keeps taking these massive long -shot swings 00:09:44.169 --> 00:09:47.269 at federal office. This is maybe the most controversial 00:09:47.269 --> 00:09:49.370 part of her record. We have to talk about her 00:09:49.370 --> 00:09:51.809 challenging John Lewis. Yes. I mean, we need 00:09:51.809 --> 00:09:53.769 to put this in context for people. John Lewis 00:09:53.769 --> 00:09:56.450 wasn't just a congressman. He was a secular saint, 00:09:56.590 --> 00:09:59.750 the hero of Selma. He was beaten on the Edmund 00:09:59.750 --> 00:10:02.289 Pettus Bridge. He was a moral icon. Running against 00:10:02.289 --> 00:10:04.110 John Lewis in Atlanta is like running against 00:10:04.110 --> 00:10:06.190 the Pope in the Vatican. It's just not done. 00:10:06.269 --> 00:10:08.289 You don't challenge the hero. But she did it. 00:10:09.029 --> 00:10:12.190 Twice. 1992 and 2008. Both times in the Democratic 00:10:12.190 --> 00:10:14.789 primary. What's the logic there? Is it delusion? 00:10:14.990 --> 00:10:17.570 Or is there a strategy I'm missing? It's easy 00:10:17.570 --> 00:10:20.230 to dismiss it as ego. But if you look at her 00:10:20.230 --> 00:10:23.169 history. Remember, Gracetown's Hamilton Thomas 00:10:23.169 --> 00:10:26.230 clearly believed that incumbency is not a birthright. 00:10:26.769 --> 00:10:29.149 There's a school of thought that says every seat 00:10:29.149 --> 00:10:31.309 should be contested every time. It keeps the 00:10:31.309 --> 00:10:33.830 incumbent sharp. It forces a debate. Did she 00:10:33.830 --> 00:10:36.210 actually think she could win? That's hard to 00:10:36.210 --> 00:10:39.610 say. But she campaigned like she could. She argued 00:10:39.610 --> 00:10:42.570 that while Lewis was a national hero, the district 00:10:42.570 --> 00:10:44.529 had local needs that weren't being met. It was 00:10:44.529 --> 00:10:47.049 that classic local servant versus national icon 00:10:47.049 --> 00:10:50.480 argument. Did she come close? Not really. Lewis 00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:53.580 defeated her soundly both times. But the fact 00:10:53.580 --> 00:10:55.580 that she was willing to put her name on the ballot 00:10:55.580 --> 00:10:58.440 against him speaks to that fearlessness we talked 00:10:58.440 --> 00:11:00.580 about. She wasn't afraid of the establishment. 00:11:00.580 --> 00:11:02.919 And she didn't stop with the House. The notes 00:11:02.919 --> 00:11:06.889 mention a Senate run. Yes. In October 2019, she 00:11:06.889 --> 00:11:08.610 announced she was running for the U .S. Senate. 00:11:08.769 --> 00:11:10.190 The setting for that announcement was pretty 00:11:10.190 --> 00:11:12.289 interesting. A conference called Let's Talk About 00:11:12.289 --> 00:11:14.830 Sex. Right. Organized by SisterSong. It was a 00:11:14.830 --> 00:11:17.029 reproductive justice conference. So that gives 00:11:17.029 --> 00:11:19.549 you a clue about her platform. She was very focused 00:11:19.549 --> 00:11:22.350 on women's health and bodily autonomy. Then in 00:11:22.350 --> 00:11:26.029 2020, tragedy strikes. John Lewis passes away. 00:11:26.210 --> 00:11:28.830 And suddenly that seat, the 5th District, is 00:11:28.830 --> 00:11:31.049 actually open. It's not a symbolic challenge 00:11:31.049 --> 00:11:33.769 anymore. It's a scramble. And Mabel Thomas jumps 00:11:33.769 --> 00:11:36.840 in. She ran in the special election to fill the 00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:39.440 remainder of his term. She didn't make the runoff. 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:41.879 It's a tough pattern to look at. She dominates 00:11:41.879 --> 00:11:44.519 at the local level, winning the statehouse, winning 00:11:44.519 --> 00:11:46.659 city council. But every time she tries to go 00:11:46.659 --> 00:11:49.580 federal, she hits a brick wall. It really highlights 00:11:49.580 --> 00:11:51.879 the difference between local fame and federal 00:11:51.879 --> 00:11:54.720 viability. The skills required to fix zoning 00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:57.100 in English Avenue aren't necessarily the skills 00:11:57.100 --> 00:11:59.820 that big national donors look for in a U .S. 00:11:59.820 --> 00:12:02.240 senator. It's just a different game. But here's 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:05.059 the thing about the Able brand. She takes a loss, 00:12:05.159 --> 00:12:08.059 but she doesn't go home. We skipped over a defeat 00:12:08.059 --> 00:12:09.840 in the timeline that I want to circle back to 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:11.139 because I think it's the most revealing one. 00:12:11.559 --> 00:12:15.679 2010. Ah, yes. The 2010 primary. She was running 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:18.179 for her old house seat district 55 at the time, 00:12:18.200 --> 00:12:21.580 and she lost to Rashad Taylor. Correct. So she's 00:12:21.580 --> 00:12:24.120 out. No office. Not on the council. Not in the 00:12:24.120 --> 00:12:26.799 house. For most people, losing a seat you've 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:29.690 held for years is a career ender. It signals 00:12:29.690 --> 00:12:31.929 that the voters are tired of you. You take the 00:12:31.929 --> 00:12:34.990 hint. You retire. You become a lobbyist. Mabel 00:12:34.990 --> 00:12:38.409 Thomas. She waits. She regroups. And in 2013, 00:12:38.629 --> 00:12:41.929 she runs for District 56 and wins. She got back 00:12:41.929 --> 00:12:43.769 in the game. She served another eight years, 00:12:43.909 --> 00:12:47.870 from January 2013 until January 2021. That resilience 00:12:47.870 --> 00:12:50.190 is what's so impressive. Yeah. Goes back to the 00:12:50.190 --> 00:12:52.590 basketball analogy. She's the player who misses 00:12:52.590 --> 00:12:54.990 the shot, gets her own rebound, and puts it back 00:12:54.990 --> 00:12:56.889 up immediately. That is the perfect metaphor. 00:12:57.090 --> 00:12:59.429 She had a short memory for failure, which is, 00:12:59.450 --> 00:13:01.929 I think, a requirement for any long -term politician. 00:13:02.289 --> 00:13:04.549 She didn't let the loss define her. She just 00:13:04.549 --> 00:13:07.289 reapplied for her job. So how does the story 00:13:07.289 --> 00:13:09.129 end? Or at least, how does this chapter close? 00:13:09.350 --> 00:13:11.750 In March 2020, she announced she wouldn't seek 00:13:11.750 --> 00:13:13.909 re -election. She retired from the Georgia House 00:13:13.909 --> 00:13:17.309 on January 11, 2021. That's nearly 40 years after 00:13:17.309 --> 00:13:19.009 she first walked onto the floor as the youngest 00:13:19.009 --> 00:13:21.700 member. It's a lifetime. Think about the changes 00:13:21.700 --> 00:13:25.259 in Atlanta between 1984 and 2021. The Olympics 00:13:25.259 --> 00:13:28.019 came and went. The population boomed. The West 00:13:28.019 --> 00:13:30.940 Side gentrified. And she was a legislative constant 00:13:30.940 --> 00:13:33.580 through all of it. The notes mention her personal 00:13:33.580 --> 00:13:35.919 life briefly toward the end. She's a member of 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:38.080 the cosmopolitan African Methodist Episcopal 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:40.059 Church, and we shouldn't overlook that. The church 00:13:40.059 --> 00:13:42.379 is so often the bedrock of political organizing 00:13:42.379 --> 00:13:45.480 in the black community in the South. That connection 00:13:45.480 --> 00:13:48.679 likely fueled her longevity as much as her policy 00:13:48.679 --> 00:13:51.419 positions did. As we step back and look at the 00:13:51.419 --> 00:13:54.120 legend of Abel Mabel, what is the big takeaway 00:13:54.120 --> 00:13:57.399 here? Is it the winds? Or is it something else? 00:13:57.559 --> 00:13:59.320 I think the takeaway is about the definition 00:13:59.320 --> 00:14:02.080 of service. We tend to glorify the politicians 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:04.820 who give big speeches on cable news, you know, 00:14:04.840 --> 00:14:07.700 the viral moments. But Mabel Thomas spent decades 00:14:07.700 --> 00:14:10.759 in the rooms where the boring work happens. Committee 00:14:10.759 --> 00:14:14.240 meetings, budget hearings, zoning boards. The 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:16.759 unglamorous stuff. The essential stuff. When 00:14:16.759 --> 00:14:18.960 she retired, she took a massive amount of institutional 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:21.379 memory with her. She knew why a law was written 00:14:21.379 --> 00:14:23.259 that way in 1995 because she was in the room 00:14:23.259 --> 00:14:24.799 when they wrote it. You can't replace that easily. 00:14:25.059 --> 00:14:27.960 And she did it all while ensuring that you literally 00:14:27.960 --> 00:14:30.940 could not forget her name. Legally, you had to 00:14:30.940 --> 00:14:33.980 read the word able to vote for her. It really 00:14:33.980 --> 00:14:35.960 changes how I think about political ambition. 00:14:36.220 --> 00:14:38.220 We look at people climbing the ladder, trying 00:14:38.220 --> 00:14:41.159 to get to the top rung. But maybe the real power 00:14:41.159 --> 00:14:43.419 is just holding on to the ladder for 40 years 00:14:43.419 --> 00:14:45.600 so it doesn't fall over. That's a powerful way 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:48.179 to put it. Stability has a value all its own. 00:14:48.539 --> 00:14:51.620 In a city that changes as fast as Atlanta, Mabel 00:14:51.620 --> 00:14:53.740 Thomas was a landmark. Well, that's our deep 00:14:53.740 --> 00:14:56.440 dive on the life and career of Mabel Abel Thomas. 00:14:56.840 --> 00:14:59.779 From the basketball court to the Gold Dome, she's 00:14:59.779 --> 00:15:01.559 certainly made her mark. And changed the ballot 00:15:01.559 --> 00:15:04.399 forever. Here's a thought I want to leave you 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:07.340 with today. We often judge a politician's success 00:15:07.340 --> 00:15:10.080 by how high they climb state rep to senator to 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:12.700 president. But Mabel Thomas bounced between the 00:15:12.700 --> 00:15:16.559 statehouse and city hall. Makes you wonder. Where 00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:19.700 does a politician actually touch your life? Is 00:15:19.700 --> 00:15:21.659 it in Washington passing some trillion -dollar 00:15:21.659 --> 00:15:24.519 bill? Or is it the person who ensures the streetlights 00:15:24.519 --> 00:15:27.899 on your block actually turn on at night? Mabel 00:15:27.899 --> 00:15:29.759 Thomas seemed to think the latter was worth a 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:32.120 40 -year fight. Thanks for listening.