The candidates for Georgia governor added millions of dollars more to their campaign fundraising hauls over the past two months.
The two Democrats and five leading Republicans collected thousands of new donors — and began to seriously ratchet up their spending — ahead of the May 22 primary. In all, according to financial reports filed late Friday, the candidates have raised or loaned themselves more than $22 million.
The report covers a two-month period between Jan. 31 and March 31. State officeholders are banned by law from raising campaign cash during the legislative session, which ended March 30. It’s why three of the GOP candidates had little new fundraising to show in the latest filing.
Here’s a breakdown of where each candidate stands:
DEMOCRATS
Former House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams: Abrams outraised her primary opponent, former state Rep. Stacey Evans, by about 3-to-1 over this period as she began to stockpile more campaign cash. The former Atlanta legislator's reportat the end of January showed she had spent about 80 percent of her contributions; in this latest report, her rate of spending dropped to about 73 percent. (Her campaign has long said it has embraced an unconventional strategy that relies less on TV advertising and more on personnel and organizing.) About two-thirds of her contributions came from out of state, but the $325,000 her campaign said she raised from Georgia donors outpaced Evans overall during this period. Among her donors are two children of billionaire George Soros, whose family hosted a fundraiser for her last year; author Judy Blume; and Stephanie Blank, a prominent children's advocate who is the ex-wife of Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank.
Total contributions this period: $1,006,947.23
Total contributions to date: $3,280,652.59
Cash on hand: $898,553.85
Former state Rep. Stacey Evans: After pumping in more than $1.2 million of her own money into her account earlier this cycle, the former legislator from Smyrna didn't dip deeper into her own wallet to reinforce her campaign. She wound up spending more money this cycle — about $400,000 — than she took in as she begins to ramp up her TV time. She has twice as much cash on hand available for the primary as her opponent, with nearly $1.4 million in the bank, compared with about $560,000 for Abrams. (The rest of the money is partitioned for a runoff or general election.) Evans' donors include Jane Kidd, a former chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Georgia; former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young; and Dan Halpern, a restaurateur and major Democratic National Committee fundraiser. She also collected donations from Cousins Chief Executive Larry Gellerstedt, who leads a task force charged with helping to recruit Amazon's second headquarters, shortly after he criticized a move by Cagle and Republicans to spike a tax break that would have benefited Delta Air Lines.
Total contributions this period: $321,496.32
Total contributions to date: $2,617,889.90
Cash on hand: $1,486,522.63
REPUBLICANS
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle: The GOP front-runner remains, by far, the leading fundraiser despite scant new donations this period due to the legislative session. He has set aside $4.5 million to fund a wave of advertising that started last month and will escalate through the primary, and he has relied on the Capitol crowd — a collection of lobbyists and powerful industry groups — to help pad his campaign coffers. He also started spending that money at an accelerated pace, dishing out $1.2 million on expenses including consulting fees and TV airtime. His donors include the foundation of golfer Davis Love III and GOP strategist John McLaughlin.
Total contributions this period: $20,206.50
Total contributions to date: $6,790,315.32
Cash on hand: $4,535,511
Former state Sen. Hunter Hill: The former legislator from Buckhead is in a tight race for what could be a No. 2 spot in a GOP runoff, and he's tapped the well-heeled district he once represented as well as retirees in Sea Island. Among his notable donors this quarter are Atlanta Braves Chief Executive Terry McGuirk and Robert Loudermilk of the Loudermilk Cos. real estate firm. He spent about twice as much as he raised this period, including more than $500,000 on campaign ads.
Total contributions this period: $442,891.90
Total contributions to date: $2,702,053.54
Cash on hand: $1,120,864.48
Secretary of State Brian Kemp: Faced with the same constraints as other officeholders, the Athens Republican raised little new cash and dipped deeper into his coffers to start airing sustained TV ad campaigns touting his immigration crackdown proposals. He spent more than $500,000 over the past two months, largely on TV airtime and associated costs.
Total contributions this period: $34,970.26
Total contributions to date: $2,920,108.74
Cash on hand: $1,631,521.28
Businessman Clay Tippins (R): The executive for Capgemini, a Paris-based consulting and outsourcing firm, kept pace with several of his top rivals in campaign donations in the final stretch of the race. With help from several well-known executives, including carpet magnate Bob Shaw and attorney Lin Wood, he ended the quarter with roughly as much money on hand as Kemp. He shelled out $540,000 this period, including roughly $300,000 with two firms linked to Georgia operative Nick Ayers: Target Enterprises and Bask Digital Media.
Total contributions this period: $405,177
Total contributions to date: $2,544,518.28
Cash on hand: $1,591,518.83
State Sen. Michael Williams: The accountant has fueled his campaign with about $1.5 million in loans but has had trouble raising cash. His latest fundraising figures show he's collected about $300,000 in donations and has most of his take — about $1.27 million — still in the bank.
Total contributions this period: $4,501.45
Total contributions to date: $1,786,003.86
Cash on hand: $1,268,818.23
