US Senate Race in Georgia Has Both Parties Mega Fundraising

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) speaks during a campaign rally for Georgia Republican candidate for Senate Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), in Marietta, Ga., on Nov. 11, 2020. John Bazemore/AP Photo

Control of the U.S. Senate depends on Georgia’s two seats which is why Democrats and Republicans are laser-focused on campaigning there. One pair of opponents, Democrat challenger Raphael Warnock and incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) are getting the backing from every level of their party, with fundraising coming from groups who want to see their group’s agenda addressed by the winner.

Warnock has the backing of grassroots organizations with progressive agendas as well as Democrat megadonors, while Loeffler is putting millions of her own money into the race and has top Republican lawmakers and PACs donating and holding fundraising events for her campaign for the Jan. 5 runoff.

After fundraising for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, the wealthy Democrats have shifted focus toward the two Senate fights in Georgia. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is doing a virtual joint fundraising event for Jon Ossoff and Warnock, where donors can write large checks.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Rev. Raphael Warnock speaks during an Election Night event in Atlanta, Ga., on Nov. 3, 2020. Jessica McGowan/Getty Images

CNBC’s Brian Swartz wrote, “Jon @ossoff and @ReverendWarnock are teaming up to raise cash for their dueling Senate runoffs in Jan. Funds for the event below are going to the Georgia Senate Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee between Ossoff and Warnock’s campaigns. Tickets go up to $15,600 and start at $54.”

“Special guest for the Ossoff and Warnock event is @staceyabrams, who has been actively raising millions for the runoffs,” Schwartz continued.

According to the DSCC website, they are “the only organization solely dedicated to electing a Democratic Senate.” Chaired by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), they are “working hard to take back the Senate from the Republicans.”

Meanwhile, Loeffler and her husband Jeff Sprecher have put $23 million of their own money into her campaign.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), stands with Georgia Republican candidate for Senate Kelly Loeffler, right, and Bonnie Perdue, wife of Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), after a campaign rally Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020, in Marietta, Ga. John Bazemore/AP Photo

“Kelly has been blessed to live the American dream, and she stepped out of the private sector to work for every single Georgian in Washington to make sure they had the opportunity to live theirs,” her spokesman Stephen Lawson told Atlanta News Now.

For Republican incumbents, the super PAC the Senate Leadership Fund has been leading fundraising for the Georgia Senate race.

According to their webpage, “As an independent Super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund has one goal: to protect and expand the Republican Senate Majority when Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer, together with their army of left-wing activists, try to take it back in 2020.”

Other political groups aligned with the Republican Party are also involved in fundraising for an aggressive advertising campaign and a strong field operation to support the two GOP candidates.

According to independent expenditure filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), various Republican and conservative groups, including FreedomWorks, National Victory Action, the Club for Growth, and Americans for Prosperity have invested thousands to back incumbent Sens. Perdue and Loeffler.

Loeffler’s campaign collected over $5 million in contributions from donors and recorded over $28 million in total receipts based on the FEC information. Meanwhile, Warnock raised funds through the donating platforms Democracy Engine PAC, ActBlue, over $20 million in contributions from donations between 2019 and 2020, with receipts totaling a little over $21 million.

The Republicans’ campaign advertising has attacked and criticized Warnock on his 2008 defense of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the former pastor of President Obama who made anti-American comments during his sermons.

Jeremiah Wright, senior pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, speaks during a breakfast program at the National Press Club on April 28, 2008, in Washington. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

In response to Loeffler’s ads, Warnock said, “She (Loeffler) knows that she is misrepresenting who I am and what I represent. And so, I’m going to stay focused on Georgia families,” Warnock told CNN. Loeffler is also running ads that attack Warnock as a radical with a socialist agenda.

Meanwhile, Warnock’s campaign ads paint Loeffler as self-serving and out of touch. Both Warnock and Loeffler’s campaigns did not return The Epoch Times’ request for comment.

Among the progressive groups raising money to turn out the vote for Warnock is Black Votes Matter, writing that they have finished months of voter outreach and voter registration in the South. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Georgia, the Asian Americans Advancing Justice, a part of The Action Network in Atlanta made calls to 92 percent of Asian Americans in Georgia and plan to do it again for Senate runoffs for Warnock. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Georgia is active in getting voters to the polls for Warnock, including a partnership with Lyft to facilitate voting.

Stacey Abram’s The New Georgia Project registered over 500,000 voters in Georgia. Though officially a nonpartisan 501(c)3, NGP’s Abram’s has endorsed and fundraised for only progressive Democrats.

On the other side, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) donated $1 million to the Georgia Senate race. While Jaime Harrison who ran and lost to the South Carolina incumbent, but who raised the most money of any Senate candidate in history with over $57 million, called on his base to donate to the Georgia Senate Democrats.

“Folks, #TeamJaime is still in the fight! In the last week, we’ve raised over $450,000 for the Georgia Senate runoffs! We are on the verge of a New South and @ossoff and @reverndwarnock are leading the way. I hope you’ll join me in supporting their historic campaigns,” wrote Jaime Harrison.

Along with Harrison, self-described Democrat-socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and member of the “Squad” is fundraising for Warnock, “It’s time to #EmbraceTheBase in Georgia.”

Ocasio-Cortez wrote, “Georgia isn’t a red state. It’s a voter-suppressed state. Last night #TeamAOC mobilized to raise $100k *directly* to grassroots orgs @fairfightaction, @New GAProject, and more. Time to charge forward and support the folks leading the way. Let’s kick it up.”

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) speak at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on July 15, 2019. Holly Kellum/NTD

Another socialist/Marxist organization that is associated with members of the “Squad” and has openly endorsed and fundraised for Warnock is the Working Families Party.

In addition, Planned Parenthood, an organization that has endorsed Ocasio-Cortez and now fundraising for Raphael Warnock are encouraging their supporters to “Join Team Warnock to Phonebank Georgia Voters!”

The other pair in the Georgia Senate race is incumbent Sen. David Purdue (R-Ga.) who is facing off with Democrat Jon Ossoff. If Democrats win both Georgia Senate seats, and Biden wins the White House, Kamala Harris would be serving as tie-breaker in the chamber, which would be split 50–50.

Democrats still control the U.S. House but with a decreased majority and fear that a Republican-controlled Senate would impede their progressive agenda with everything from a national COVID-19 response to the Green New Deal.