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This is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley. And today my guest is Stacey Abrams, a name synonymous with political strategy, voting rights advocacy, and literary prowess,

authoring 17 books across various genres, from romance and thrillers to nonfiction and children's stories.

Her latest thriller, Coded Justice, is the third installment in a series that centers on Avery Keen,

a former Supreme Court clerk turned corporate investigator who steps into the world of AI to examine a system designed to revolutionize veteran health care.

What begins as a promising innovation, spirals into profound questions many of us are grappling with right now

about technology, ethics, and justice. Beyond her writing, Abram served in the Georgia House of

Representatives for more than a decade, including as a minority leader, becoming the first woman

and the first Black American to lead either party in the Georgia General Assembly. She ran as a

Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia twice in 2018 and 2022, losing both races, but drawing national

attention to issues of voter suppression, particularly during her remarkably close 2018 campaign.

In response, she founded Fair Fight Action,

an organization credited with boosting voter turnout in Georgia

and contributing to Democratic victories in the 2020 presidential and Senate elections.

Stacey Abrams, welcome to fresh air.

Thank you for having me.

Okay, what a time to be releasing a book, Stacey, for two reasons.

Number one, your novel dives into the world of AI.

I mean, it's something that all of us are thinking about.

It's on our minds right now.

It's dominating headlines.

And also, there are so many questions that we are all grappling with in this moment about the state of our democracy.

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