McConnell Money is Buying Georgia
Four GOP Super PACs, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have been funding the GA run-off election that determines control of the Senate, with $140 million in ad buys, to bypass FEC law.
The special run-off election in Georgia on January 5, will determine which political party will take the last two Senate seats, and ultimately determine who will control the legislative branch. It is a critical election that has seen record levels of campaign funding, as Republicans have flipped the spending dynamic from the general election, where Democrats largely outspent their opponents in key races nationwide. Mitch McConnell has a very clear, vested interest in making sure both Conservatives win in Georgia because if they don’t, he will lose his position as Majority Leader.
The money advantage for Republicans in Georgia is primarily due to the work of four campaign committees, tied to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), that are raising and spending huge sums on the two races. The outsider funding groups are comprised of four primary funders: McConnell’s Senate Leadership Fund, American Crossroads, PeachTree PAC and One Nation.
These four groups, affiliated with McConnell, have provided $140 million for the Loeffler and Purdue campaigns, by booking the advertising space directly to bypass campaign election funding laws. The 2010 ruling in Citizens United allows for outside groups to spend unlimited amounts of money on elections, as long as donations are not given directly to the candidates. Each of the four groups is putting up $35 million, and combined, these ad buys make up approximately 35% of the total spent in the Georgia run-off election by Republicans.
These Republican Super PAC groups are linked, but are intentionally established and maintained separately in order to take advantage of the complexities of campaign finance law and bypass regulations that seek to limit this type of activity. For example, the One Nation Super PAC, is set up under legal provisions that allow it to keep its donors identities entirely secret, while the other three disclose at least some of their donors. This dark money scheme means that anyone could be funding One Nation, including hostile foreign nations and rich donors from abroad with an interest in chipping away at American democracy.
The McConnell Senate Leadership Fund raised $104.2 million nationwide between Oct. 15 and Nov. 23, which brought its 2020 fundraising total to $384.8 million, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings. The fund spent $112.6 million in the final stretch of the general campaign and had $60.8 million left in the bank after the November election. In contrast, Democrats spent nearly all of the money in their Senate Majority PAC trying to win control of the Senate in the general election, and ended November with only $2.1 million on hand.
Despite the unbalanced money coffers, a recent state-wide poll by JMC Analytics shows both Democratic candidates leading their Republican counterparts with very narrow margins. This means we can likely expect another Republican Super PAC influx of funding into the Georgia Senate GOP campaigns before the Saturday election.
Trump also appeared in Georgia last weekend to attempt to rectify the damage he had done by delaying Covid relief funding for the country, and continuing to sell his baseless allegations of voter fraud. Trump told a crowd of mostly maskless supporters on Saturday, “Let them steal Georgia again, you’ll never be able to look yourself in the mirror.”
This odd strategy of disenfranchising voters, as a means to propel voter turnout, failed him in the general election — but, he continues to seem incapable of switching up his approach. Trump ended his nearly 100 minute ranting rally by making an astounding demand that Georgia call for a special legislative session to turn over the state’s electoral votes to him, in direct defiance of the thrice confirmed vote tallies that show Biden is the clear winner.
Another glitch for Republicans seems to be the kickback in Georgia from Kelly Loeffler posing next to Chester Doles, a former Ku Klux Klan (KKK) leader and member of the Neo-Nazi National Alliance. Doles spent decades in the KKK, and served as Maryland’s Grand Klaliff, which is a role similar to vice president that is only second to the Supreme Grand Wizard, or president.
Doles is also a convicted felon for a hate crime, after being sentenced to prison in 1993 for beating a Black man in Maryland and being charged with assault with intent to murder. Chester Doles also purportedly marched in the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, with the Hammerskins. This hate group is one of the oldest, racist skinhead groups in the United States, that is considered to be one of the most extreme in terms of violence.
At a campaign event on Friday, December 12, Kelly Loeffler, who is running for senate against Raphael Warnock, a Black reverend in Georgia, was photographed smiling and posing with Chester Doles. Although Loeffler’s campaign spokesperson has just recently denied ever intending to associate with Doles, this statement only came after Jon Ossoff, the other Democratic Candidate running in the second senate run-off race in Georgia, repeatedly told Fox News that “Kelly Loeffler has been campaigning with a Klansman.” (see video below.) Loeffler did not disavow her appearance with Doles in the more than two weeks proceeding it, until Ossoff’s claims gained traction in the media.
This race will continue to heat up as we near Election Day on Tuesday, and Democrats are in urgent need of funding as they near the finish line. If you can afford to, I recommend you donate any amount to either campaign or to both as soon as possible, as this final push is critical and funding is low. I have been donating to the fundraiser led by Stacey Abrams, which gives to both candidates equally and directly here, but you can also donate individually to Rev. Raphael Warnock here or to Jon Ossoff here. For more information on how to vote in this election in Georgia you can click here.
Amee Vanderpool writes the SHERO Newsletter and is an attorney, published author, contributor to newspapers and magazines and analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
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This starts, I believe, with overturning Citizens United, which allowed these dark-money Super PACs to flourish and subvert our electoral system.
The whole situation is just so disheartening.
Happy New Year, Amee. May 2021 be a better year for us all.