Georgia barrels toward another mega-spending midterm
In the last midterm election, Georgia Democrats built early, enormous fundraising advantages over their rivals in the state’s marquee races. In this one, Republicans are flipping the script — with one key exception.
Thanks to prodigious fundraising and candidates with large personal fortunes, financial records released this week show Republicans with a formidable financial edge in races for governor and lieutenant governor.
In the race for U.S. Senate, however, Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff is the one with eye-popping totals: He reported $25 million on hand, far surpassing the more modest hauls of his three leading GOP challengers.
The filings underscore how much has changed since this point in 2022, when Democrats Stacey Abrams and Raphael Warnock topped the fundraising charts in closely watched statewide contests.
In Georgia’s hypercompetitive race for governor, Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones reported roughly $19 million across several campaign accounts, including a $10 million personal loan and funds raised through a special committee that allows unlimited donations.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger ended with $5.4 million in his account after a $5 million loan. And Attorney General Chris Carr totaled about $3.1 million in the race, without any loans.
Those figures don’t include health care executive Rick Jackson, a Republican who entered the race after the Jan. 31 campaign filing deadline and said he plans to spend at least $50 million on his campaign.
Democratic numbers show far more parity — and far less cash. Former state Sen. Jason Esteves finished with the most cash of any contender from his party, with $1.2 million in the bank.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and former DeKalb County chief executive Michael Thurmond each reported less than $1 million in their campaign accounts.
But the biggest surprise of the cycle might have come in the lieutenant governor’s race. Republican state Sen. Blake Tillery reported $2.6 million in the bank — more than any other contender from either party.
The surge of spending means this year’s vote could rival 2022 as the most expensive midterm in state history, when more than $425 million was spent on the U.S. Senate battle between Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker alone, which the Democrat won.
Still, it should fall short of the spending in the 2020 cycle, when nearly $1 billion was spent on Georgia contests, including the pair of runoff elections swept by Ossoff and Warnock that at the time registered as the most expensive Senate races in U.S. history.
About the Author
Greg Bluestein is the Atlanta Journal Constitution's chief political reporter. He is also an author, TV analyst and co-host of the Politically Georgia podcast.
