Republicans launch 50-state strategy to raise cash for Georgia Senate runoffs
Senate Republicans have launched a national campaign headed by veteran strategist Karl Rove to oversee fundraising for twin Georgia runoffs that will decide control of the chamber.
Rove, a former adviser to George W. Bush, is serving as the national finance chair of the Georgia Battleground Fund, a joint account between the National Republican Senatorial Committee and U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.
Republicans have lined up big-name politicos from all 50 states for the effort, which involves former Vice President Dan Quayle, former Gov. Chris Christie and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.
A group of Georgians have also joined the initiative. Veteran Republican strategists Nick Ayers and Alec Poitevint are national co-chairs, as is First Lady Marty Kemp. And Eric Tanenblatt, the high-powered Republican operative, is chair of the Georgia campaign.
“The only way to rein in the excesses of a Democratic White House and a Democratic House of Representatives is to have a Republican Senate,” Rove told Fox News on Wednesday.
“This is the last line of defense to conservative values. If we don’t have a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate, they’re going to have a clear path to this nutty agenda.”
Senate Republicans, along with the GOP incumbents, have combined to raise at least $32 million to finance TV ads and expand a get-out-the-vote operation against Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. The campaigns and their allies have already spent or reserved more than $120 million worth of ads.
The national GOP fundraising effort undercuts a favorite attack of Georgia conservatives, who have long blasted Democrats for taking out-of-state money. Still, it’s not a new trend for state Republicans, who have increasingly expanded their fundraising efforts outside state lines.
An Atlanta Journal Constitution analysis found that about $20 million of the $27 million raised by the Georgia GOP ahead of the Nov. 3 vote came from outside the state. Democrats, too, have raised heaps of cash from donors from across the country.
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.
