Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp have raised $22 million dollars between them from July 5 and Sept. 30. This campaign has broken every single campaign contribution record as this race garners national attention. Overall, both candidates raised $56.5 million, making it the richest governor’s race in Georgia history.
Abrams raised millions from individual donors giving less than $250. However, of the $7.89 million from donors that Abrams disclosed in the most recent reporting period, about $4.2 million came from outside Georgia, including $1 million from California and $850,000 from New York, according to a review by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Among her big-money donors were actors and entertainers such as Chris Rock ($5,000), Jada Pinkett-Smith ($5,000), Regina Hall ($5,000), Heather Thomas ($6,600) and Kate Capshaw ($6,600), Chicago Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts ($6,600), DreamWorks founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and his wife Marilyn ($13,200), and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ($6,600).
Atlanta is the city where most of Abrams’s fundraising efforts come from. As of the most recent reporting period, almost 10,000 named donations came from Atlanta, worth about $3.2 million.
Part of Kemp’s strategy is claiming Abrams gets fundraising from “socialist billionaires” from Hollywood and New York who want to impose their values on Georgia. Kemp has raised $11.7 million from July 5th through September 30th.
The Georgia Republican Party reported receiving $5.4 million in the past three months. $2.3 million from Kemp’s campaign, $750,000 from the Republican Governors Association, and $200,000 from two big nursing home companies donated to the Georgia GOP as they shape the Republican candidate’s message.
As both sides and the ancillary political action committees ratchet up the rhetoric as Election Day (Nov. 6th) draws closer, the campaign ads and the mailers will predictably get nastier and more vitriolic.
