Once the 2020 General Assembly session ended in June, chamber leaders didn’t have to look far to find folks to help fund their multimillion-dollar bid to retain Republican control of the Legislature.
They’d just spent a few weeks milling around with them on the third floor of the Capitol: lobbyists and the people they represent.
The House Republican political action committee — which continued fundraising during the session — took in about $1.5 million between July 1 and the end of September, according to recently filed disclosures. In addition to that, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan’s “independent committee” took in $276,000, and the Senate caucus’ effort reaped more than $550,000.
The state Republican Party reported raising almost $11 million during that period, about 10 times what the Democratic Party collected.
Democrats aren’t bereft of funds, with the party’s candidates getting huge help from outside organizations such as the political arm of Fair Fight Action, the voting rights group that former party gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams started. Most of the money raised by groups such as Fair Fight is coming from individual donors outside Georgia.
“We have had to look for real Georgians to invest in our campaign efforts,” said state House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, who declared himself “cautiously optimistic” about his party’s chances Nov. 3. “We don’t have Hollywood money ... or Martha’s Vineyard money.
“We really had no alternative but than to go to Georgians,” he added. “They know what is at stake.”
National groups have invested big in Georgia Republican races as well. And while about two-thirds of Republican leadership PAC money has come from Georgia, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution review of campaign finance reports also showed a vast majority has come from the donors who typically flock to the party in power during a crucial election season.
That includes the lobby corps, the business associations they represent, and deep-pocketed individuals and companies interested in legislation, tax breaks, contracts or board appointments.
Many of the same donors and groups gave heavily to Democratic groups in the 1990s and early 2000s, when they ran the Statehouse. That’s particularly true for party leadership.
“It’s big money from big people. It’s transactional," said Rick Dent, a media strategist who served in Gov. Zell Miller’s Democratic administration during the 1990s. “I think most people know that.”
Spending on legislative races has been dwarfed this year by the presidential campaign and two U.S. Senate contests in Georgia, where records are being broken daily.
But money is still flowing to the battle for the General Assembly — and being spent on advertisements, mass mailings, text messaging, polling and other research — because House and Senate leaders have a lot more to worry about than whether President Donald Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden wins election in November.
Ralston made a point of announcing a major fundraising push last year after Democrats picked up 11 seats in the House and two in the Senate in 2018.
The goal, the speaker said, “was there would not be one (Republican) candidate who did not have what they needed."
He added, “We’ve done pretty well getting what we need.”
Democrats are fighting to win 16 seats in the House to take over the chamber for the first time since 2005. Republican fundraisers have accepted the challenge of holding onto power.
The 2020 elections are doubly important for both parties because whichever one holds power next year will be able to dictate how House, Senate and congressional district lines are drawn.
If Republicans hold on, they will be able to draw lines that help their party keep a majority for the next decade. If Democrats win the House, they will move to draw lines that improve their chances of maintaining control.
Abrams, a former House Democratic leader, said that after the last census, Republicans drew lines in 2011 that heavily favored GOP candidates in about seven of 10 districts, even though the party didn’t get anywhere near 70% of the votes in the previous year’s election.
PACs, such as the House Republican Trust, are important because while individuals and businesses have limits on how much they can give lawmakers, they can donate $50,000, $100,000 or more at a time to political action committees and “independent” committees. Those committees then spend to get their party’s candidates elected or reelected.
Donors can give individual legislative candidates $2,800 for the primary, $1,500 if they are in a primary runoff, and $2,800 more for the general election. PACs and committees have no such limits.
So, for instance, Duncan’s committee — which has raised more than $1 million since being created last year to promote Republican Senate candidates — has received $30,000 from the horse racing lobby, $80,000 from the trial lawyers lobby and $100,000 from a national Republican leadership group.
Georgia Republican Senate committees have gotten $50,000 this cycle from trial lawyers; $25,000 from the e-cigarette company Juul Labs, which lobbied to hold down potential taxes on its products; and $20,000 from Cancer Treatment Centers of America, which won the ability from the General Assembly to expand in Georgia.
The House GOP PAC has reported raising about $3.5 million in the past two years, including $75,000 from nursing home giant PruittHealth; $124,000 from Hospital Corporation of America; $135,000 from HTNB, an infrastructure design firm that does extensive work with the state road-building agency; and $145,000 from the trial lawyers lobby.
On the Democratic side, Fair Fight has been a major player. It has pumped more than $1.4 million into the state party over the past two years, and it donated more than $220,000 to state and local candidates, according to disclosures.
A chunk of the party money has gone toward supporting efforts to take the Georgia House. While Fair Fight has received several contributions from national liberal mega-donors, it has also collected tens of thousands of donations of less than $100 from across the country.
Georgia’s WIN List, which is dedicated to electing and reelecting Democratic women, has raised about $500,000 this cycle, a vast majority from Georgians.
While there are races across the state, much of the battle for the chambers has played out in metro Atlanta, where demographic and political changes have made the suburbs less friendly to Republicans than they were a decade ago.
The money the GOP has amassed has done more than help it play defense: It has sought to regain seats it lost in 2018, and, with a major boost from a Washington-based Republican group, it has gone after the Democrats' current House leader.
House Minority Leader Bob Trammell, D-Luthersville, is the last white rural male Democrat in a chamber once ruled by rural white Democrats. The Republican State Leadership Committee has made Trammell its top target in the nation, spending more than $700,000 as of last week to defeat him. Overall, the group has put about $1.5 million into Georgia races this year.
Trammell has raised several hundred thousand dollars to defend his seat and expects to prevail, despite big-money attacks from the national group.
“This campaign we’re forced to spend more than we ever have in a campaign,” he said. “I feel like we’ll have the resources we need to communicate our message.”
The Republican group recently released a television ad featuring Gov. Brian Kemp endorsing Trammell’s opponent, David Jenkins.
“Gov. Kemp’s leadership serves as a model to every elected official, and he needs an ally like David Jenkins with him in Atlanta,” said Austin Chambers, the group’s president.
Ralston said legislative candidates have worked hard to cut through the cacophony of voices wanting attention this election season.
“This is not about whether somebody likes a politician in Washington,” Ralston said. “This is about who can best represent a community in the Georgia House of Representatives. These candidates are talking about things that matter."
During a virtual rally Sunday, Abrams said her party has made gains in the past decade and has a major chance to add to its seats this year.
“We know who we are and we know how to win,” Abrams said. “Now we are heading into a new decade of opportunity. We know across the state of Georgia we have a moment of opportunity that is unparalleled.”
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