Republican David Perdue raised more money in the first half of October than Democrat Michelle Nunn in Georgia's U.S. Senate race, according to the final pre-election filings to the Federal Election Commission -- which show Perdue continuing to ante up with his own funds.
Nunn, one of her party's most prolific fundraisers this election cycle, still had more cash on hand for the final stretch after significantly outspending Perdue.
Perdue raised $1.04 million from Oct. 1 through Oct. 15, spent $3.09 million and had $669,000 on hand. He also made a $400,000 donation to the campaign, but repaid himself $350,000 from previous loans to the campaign -- for a net contribution of $50,000. Perdue's personal stake in his campaign is close to $3 million, including $150,000 in outstanding self-loans.
Nunn raised $848,000, spent $3.8 million and had $1.1 million on hand.
Among Perdue's donors were investor Charles Schwab, Cleveland Cavaliers owner and Quicken Loans CEO Dan Gilbert and billionaire industrialist David Koch. Nunn's donors include former U.S. Sens. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Harris Wofford, D-Pa.
We took a big-picture look at spending across Georgia's political races this year on today's front page. Here's the top:
In the Senate race, the candidates alone had spent a record-smashing $41.5 million as of Oct. 15 through a lengthy Republican primary and runoff season and in a bruising general election. Outside groups have poured in an additional $28.4 million as of Thursday, according to Federal Election Commission reports.
Much of that goes toward ubiquitous, expensive television advertisements. The Center for Public Integrity estimates that Georgians have seen at least 65,000 broadcast television ads on the Senate race from the candidates and outside groups. The only state with higher TV ad spending in a Senate race this year is North Carolina.
