Democrats in Georgia runoffs bring in record haul

ATLANTA » The Rev. Raphael G. Warnock and Jon Ossoff, the Democratic challengers in the Senate runoffs in Georgia, have each raised more than $100 million since October — enormous sums that surpassed their Republican opponents by a significant margin and underscored Democrats’ confidence after recent gains the party has made in the state and their hopes that they might capture the Senate.

The contests have drawn a surge of attention and investment from outside of Georgia, given the stakes, and the campaigning has intensified in the final weeks before the runoff, scheduled for Jan. 5.

Sen. David Perdue, one of the Republican incumbents, raised $68 million in the period from Oct. 15 to Dec. 16, according to reports to the Federal Election Commission made public Thursday. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, the other Republican, raised close to $64 million during that period.

Ossoff, who is running against Perdue, became the best-funded Senate candidate in history after pulling in $106.7 million, according to the filings, and Warnock, who is challenging Loeffler, has raised $103.3 million.

The Democrats’ haul was powered in large part by a flurry of smaller donations collected from across the country, filings show, with nearly half of the funds coming from people who donated less than $200.

For Perdue and Loeffler, the smaller donations accounted for less than 30% of what they raised.

Ossoff, who runs a media production company, spent $93.5 million during that period and had $17.4 million in cash on hand, and Warnock, the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, spent $86.1 million and had $22.7 million in cash on hand. Perdue spent $57.8 million and had $16 million in cash, and Loeffler spent $48.6 million and had $21.2 million in cash on hand.

Loeff ler, one of the wealthiest members of the Senate, was the only candidate to give to his or her own campaign, donating $333,200 — far less than the $23 million of her own money she spent on the general election run.

The numbers in the filings only affirm a level of investment that has been plainly visible to Georgia voters for months. Campaign ads fill virtually every commercial break on television and radio. The spending has even spilled over state lines, as the candidates and outside groups have bought time in markets like Jacksonville, Florida, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, to reach Georgia voters living nearby.

The amounts brought in by both Democrats exceeded the $57 million raised by Jaime Harrison in his campaign in South Carolina against Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, which had been the highest quarterly fundraising total for any Senate candidate in U.S. history. Yet the race ended up as a disappointment for Democrats, demonstrating that recordbreaking hauls do not necessarily translate to electoral success.

But in Georgia, Democrats have been buoyed by a string of recent success in a state that had until recently been reliably Republican. President- elect Joe Biden was the first Democratic presidential candidate to win in Georgia since 1992.