The voting organization Stacey Abrams founded in 2018 after losing a close gubernatorial election raised almost $62 million in a little more than two months at the end of 2020, funneling a large chunk of that money into groups that helped win the presidential and U.S. Senate races in Georgia.
Fair Fight PAC said it had 550,000 donors between Oct. 26 and Dec. 31, and the group has raised about $95 million in a little over two years since it was created after Abrams lost her race against Republican Brian Kemp.
Additionally, Fair Fight PAC, via GAsenate.com, raised over $12 million each in direct contributions for Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, who ousted Republican Georgia U.S. Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in Tuesday’s runoffs.
The numbers make it by far the most potent Democratic-supporting fundraising PAC in the state.
“Fair Fight is proud to have played a key role in sending two champions of democracy to the United States Senate,” said Fair Fight senior adviser Lauren Groh-Wargo. “In particular, we are proud to have funded Georgia-based organizations that played an indispensable role in mobilizing a multiracial, multiethnic and multigenerational electorate.
“Following an arduous decade-long team effort, Georgians have made undeniably clear that we are a blue state, and voters — particularly Black voters and voters of color writ large — will not be silenced.”
Fair Fight PAC’s latest haul came just before and after the Nov. 3 election in which Abrams was credited with helping Joe Biden win the state’s presidential contest.
Much of its spending has gone into radio and digital ads and mailings aimed at the U.S. Senate runoffs and major contributions to a series of Black, Asian American and Latino advocacy groups.
The fundraising numbers provide strong evidence Abrams will have no trouble building a gigantic war chest if, as expected, she seeks a rematch with Kemp in 2022.
Fair Fight Action and Fair Fight’s PAC were formed in the wake of the 2018 elections, during which Abrams and supporters raised questions about what they saw as a Republican effort to suppress the vote. Kemp, who at the time was secretary of state and thus responsible for state elections, rejected the criticism, pointing to an increase in voter registrations in the years leading up to the election.
Fair Fight Action filed a federal lawsuit in 2018 alleging widespread voting problems in Georgia, including broken-down machines, long lines, inaccurate results, canceled absentee ballots and voter registrations that either had been canceled or had gone missing. The case is ongoing.
The PAC has followed much the same fundraising pattern as Abrams’ campaign. Though her campaign raised millions in Georgia, far more money has flowed — often in small-dollar donations — from out-of-state contributors.
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