Stacey Abrams hasn’t formally announced whether she’ll mount a rematch campaign against Gov. Brian Kemp next year, but an Athens-based committee has already started raising money to go on the attack.
Stop Stacey Inc. reported collecting $240,533 in the first six months of 2021, according to disclosures filed this week with the state ethics commission. It spent most of its money on marketing and consulting fees.
The committee’s main benefactor so far is Georgia United Victory, a pro-Kelly Loeffler PAC that poured money last year into her unsuccessful campaign to win a full term in the U.S. Senate. Georgia United Victory lists its address as being a few doors down from Stop Stacey and contributed $145,000 to the effort, according to the disclosure.
Kemp’s chief of staff, Tim Fleming, quit last year to go to work for Georgia United Victory.
Kemp appointed Loeffler to the U.S. Senate in 2019, but she lost her bid to stay in the job in January.
As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported earlier this year, Stop Stacey was formed by allies of Kemp and Loeffler even before Abrams announced whether she’ll run again, a sign of deep concern among Republicans about the threat she poses next year to the first-term governor.
Stop Stacey aims to build a national fundraising infrastructure, mobilize conservative supporters, air anti-Abrams ads and promote media narratives targeting the Democrat ahead of her expected campaign against Kemp four years after he narrowly won their 2018 race.
Under state law, “independent committees” such as Stop Stacey can’t coordinate with a candidate’s campaign. So, for instance, Stop Stacey isn’t supposed to plan what it’s doing with the Kemp reelection campaign.
Committees such as Stop Stacey can raise unlimited amounts from individuals, PACs and special interests. Kemp’s reelection campaign can’t take more than about $18,000 from any one donor.
A bill the Republican majority in the General Assembly pushed through the Legislature this year — and Kemp signed into law — eliminates that wall between committees. Under the law, Kemp will be able to create a “leadership committee” and raise unlimited amounts. That committee will also be able to coordinate with Kemp’s campaign.
If Abrams runs and wins the nomination, her supporters will be able to form a similar committee. Kemp, however, will have a big head start since the Democratic primary is nearly a year away.
Still, Abrams won’t have a hard time raising money. With a national following, her campaign took in a record amount in 2018, and by the end of January, the political action committee for the voting rights group she founded, Fair Fight, had raised almost $100 million in two years.
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