The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Voter group founded by Abrams to lay off nearly three-quarters of staff
It once was a juggernaut, collecting more than $100 million over its first three years, but now it’s racked by debt.
Fair Fight, the political and advocacy organization that Democrat Stacey Abrams founded in the days after her 2018 defeat in the governor’s race, owes $2.5 million but has only $1.9 million in the bank.
About three-quarters of its staff — a total of 20 employees — will soon be out of work, and the organization is scaling back its mission during an election year when it could have been a force in one of the nation’s key battleground states working at the grassroots level and registering voters.
Fair Fight used to be so successful it forced Republicans to respond.
Former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler launched Greater Georgia as a Republican answer to Fair Fight.
Republican lawmakers in 2021 created a fundraising mechanism known as a “leadership committee” that allowed Gov. Brian Kemp and a few others to skirt campaign contribution limits to help Kemp compete financially in an expected rematch the next year with Abrams.
Now, Fair Fight is headed for a “restructuring,” as Lauren Groh-Wargo, who left Fair Fight in 2021 to manage Abrams’ campaign for governor, is returning as the interim chief executive. Abrams, who stepped down as board chair before launching her second bid for governor, is also likely to play some still undetermined role in the overhaul.
Fair Fight still benefits from thousands of small, recurring contributions from donors — but the money isn’t coming in like it once did.
Where did all that cash go?
Legal expenses consumed a big chunk of it. A Politico investigation found that, over 2021 and 2022, Fair Fight spent more than $25 million on legal fees.
But it reaped little from those legal expenses, losing a number of court battles. Just last month, a federal judge ruled against the group, determining that mass challenges of Georgia voters’ eligibility under a 2021 state law didn’t amount to illegal voter intimidation.