This may be the year of the outsider on the presidential trail, but in Georgia’s hottest congressional races it still pays to be the incumbent.
Members of the state's congressional delegation are feeling the heat at home for past votes some of their constituents say do not reflect the views of the people.
But when it comes to their re-election campaigns, Georgia’s incumbents from both parties benefit from the same built-in advantages that lawmakers across the country have enjoyed for years — anti-Washington waves aside. It all boils down to one thing: big money.
“While having the most money doesn’t always guarantee success, there is a strong correlation between the candidate who has the most money and the candidate who ends up winning,” said Aaron Scherb, the director of legislative affairs at Common Cause, a Washington-based group that lobbies for changes in the campaign finance system.
It is a dynamic apparent across the first-quarter federal campaign finance disclosures analyzed this week by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which offer the last look at the financial state of Georgia’s congressional campaigns ahead of the May 24 primaries. (The documents do not incorporate the so-called “dark money” from special nonprofits that can receive unlimited donations and don’t have to report their donors.)
The advantage for incumbents is generally apparent from the very beginning.
Georgia lawmakers kicked off 2016 with war chests already filled with tens of thousands of dollars. (U.S. Rep. Tom Price of Roswell, Georgia’s highest-ranking House Republican, trumped all with a whopping $2.26 million on hand.) Compare that with many of their challengers who started the year with zero.
It’s also easier for sitting lawmakers to make more money. In Washington, they’re closer to moneyed interest groups that want to influence policy and fundraising networks on Capitol Hill.
Political action committees, or PACs, for corporations, labor unions and professional-based organizations also are more likely to give to the sitting lawmakers who represent them or oversee their industries through their committee assignments.
U.S. Reps. Rob Woodall, R-Lawrenceville, Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, and Tom Graves, R-Ranger, were among the lawmakers who received thousands from Georgia Power’s federal PAC. U.S. Reps. Hank Johnson, D-Lithonia, and Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, both garnered contributions from the PAC for Columbus-based Aflac. U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, who faces four primary challengers next month, also received campaign contributions from the PACs of hometown companies SunTrust and Equifax.
Josh Stewart, a spokesman for the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit that tracks money in politics, said major corporations often donate to sitting lawmakers from both parties.
“They’re giving to the incumbent because that’s who they want to have a good relationship with,” he said, “and it’s not, especially from a corporate view, necessarily tied to ideology.”
Common Cause’s Scherb said all that money together makes a significant difference for incumbents in primary campaigns where turnout is low and get-out-the-vote efforts can make a difference.
“Because primaries tend to be relatively small turnout races, especially if it’s not the same day as a presidential primary, then it can be just a relatively small number of citizens who are” determining the winner, he said. “Having the upper hand with resources really allows the incumbent to generate turnout to help him or herself.”
Challengers: Self-funders or shoestring
It’s often much harder for challengers to compete on the same level unless they’re independently wealthy.
In the open 3rd Congressional District race, Jim Pace, a developer who loaned himself $250,000 to kick-start his campaign, ended March with most of that money still in the bank.
Records also show Daniel Cowan, a business executive who is challenging Loudermilk in the 11th District, loaned himself more than $268,000 for his campaign. He’s only spent about $20,000 and, crucially, has more than $350,000 in cash on hand for the final month of the campaign.
Even without his personal contribution, Cowan outraised Loudermilk $126,000 to $124,000.
More than half of Loudermilk’s haul came from PACs and other special interests. He ended the period with about $150,000 in cash on hand. To put that in perspective, it costs about $330,000 to buy a full week’s worth of television advertising in the expensive Atlanta media market.
“I’m encouraged that we have outraised the incumbent congressman without the help of special-interest PACs or the Washington, D.C., establishment,” Cowan said. “It’s hard to see how Congressman Loudermilk has time to fight special interests in Washington, D.C., when he’s so busy depositing their money.”
Loudermilk’s campaign said the first-term congressman is not concerned about being outraised or outspent.
“Barry got wildly outspent two years ago and won by a huge margin because being a true conservative is free and a conservative record is earned,” Loudermilk spokesman Dan McLagan said. “For a guy like Cowan to manufacture a conservative version of himself, that costs a million dollars. I wouldn’t trade places with them for all the emails on Hillary (Clinton)’s server.”
District 11 Money race
More often than not, though, challengers are operating on shoestring budgets, the filings show. Sometimes the only contributions candidates are receiving come from family members or campaign volunteers.
Filings show that of the $5,380 raised by Mike Scupin’s 9th Congressional District campaign in the first quarter, every penny came from one household in Cumming: that of his campaign manager, Hank Sullivan. Records indicate Sullivan also gave $1,100 to Roger Fitzpatrick, another Republican in the same race challenging Collins, who earned $5,220 in contributions through March 31.
Even though Scupin’s and Fitzpatrick’s campaigns have kept expenses at a minimum, each ended the first quarter with less than $2,000 available to spend. Several candidates who qualified have yet to file any paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.
In the 3rd District, Samuel Anders, a member of the U.S. Air Force reserve, ended March with only $312 on hand.
District 3 money race
Elsewhere in the 3rd, former West Point Mayor Drew Ferguson showed the most fundraising prowess in the first quarter, even though much of the attention in the primary race is focused on state Sen. Mike Crane of Newnan.
Ferguson, a dentist, raised more than $215,000 in the first quarter, almost all of it from individual donors as opposed to PACs.
“Drew is not a millionaire. This sum comes entirely from support across the district rather than from personal deep pockets or a desire to buy the election in lieu of gaining support from citizens of Georgia,” said McLagan, a spokesman for Ferguson as well as Loudermilk.
Pace’s campaign chose to focus on the fact that he has the most cash left on hand. The more than $300,000 in his account is $200,000 more than that of any other competitor.
“As we enter the last stretch, Jim’s campaign is best positioned to get our conservative, reform-minded message out to 3rd District voters,” Pace campaign manager Evan Karanovich said. “Jim’s support comes from right here in this part of Georgia, so Jim’s donors are also voters. When it comes to donations from individuals in the district, Jim is competitive with every candidate in the race.”
No other candidate in the 3rd District reached six figures through the first quarter.
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