Stacey Abrams’ voting rights group raises $14.6 million in six months

3/6/18 - Atlanta - Stacy Abrams qualified to run for governor this morning.  She was joined by her parents, Rev. Robert Abrams and Rev. Carolyn Abrams, who drove from Mississippi to surprise her, and supporters.   Qualifying for Georgia's 2018  elections began Monday and runs through Friday.  Georgia has races for Governor, Lieutenant Governor and other statewide posts, and every congressional seat nationwide is up for a vote in November.  BOB ANDRES  /BANDRES@AJC.COM

Credit: Bob Andres

Credit: Bob Andres

3/6/18 - Atlanta - Stacy Abrams qualified to run for governor this morning. She was joined by her parents, Rev. Robert Abrams and Rev. Carolyn Abrams, who drove from Mississippi to surprise her, and supporters. Qualifying for Georgia's 2018 elections began Monday and runs through Friday. Georgia has races for Governor, Lieutenant Governor and other statewide posts, and every congressional seat nationwide is up for a vote in November. BOB ANDRES /BANDRES@AJC.COM

The political action committee for Fair Fight, the voting rights group that Democrat Stacey Abrams started after losing the governor’s race in 2018 raised $14.6 million in the last six months of 2019 from across the country.

The haul left the group, which advocates for fair elections, with $11 million on hand at the end of the year.

Overall, the group has raised nearly $19 million since being formed in the wake of Abrams’ narrow loss to Gov. Brian Kemp.

The group filed a federal lawsuit in 2018 alleging widespread voting problems, including broken-down machines, long lines, inaccurate results, canceled absentee ballots and voter registrations that either had been canceled or had gone missing.

Abrams shifted $1 million from her campaign to the group after ending her bid to contest Kemp's election.

Most recently, presidential candidate and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg donated $5 million to the group just before Christmas, while Montana philanthropist Diana Blank, ex-wife of Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United owner Arthur Blank, gave $500,000, as did - combined - two major national unions.

About three-fourths of the money from those who contributed $100 or more came from outside of Georgia. With Bloomberg’s contributions, New York ranked as the largest donor by state, with $6.1 million. Californians gave about $2 million in the final six months of 2019.

Fair Fight received money from tens of thousands of donors.

The pattern was similar to Abrams’ gubernatorial campaign, when she raised a record $27 million and took in money from thousands of donors across the country who gave small amounts and big.

The PAC contributed more than $1 million to state Democratic Party organizations across the country, from Maine to Arizona. Georgia’s Democratic Party received $375,000.