Vice President-elect Kamala Harris receives her first dose of the coronavirus vaccine
With only days to go until the Jan. 5th Georgia Senate runoff elections, Democrats have begun closing in on what was previously a pronounced GOP ad spending advantage in the state.
Ad spending is up to nearly $540 million overall for the consequential elections that will determine which party has control of the Senate. Republicans lead Democrats in total Georgia ad spending, including reservations since Nov. 10 and through the runoff by about $281.7 million to $256.6 million.
The Democrats have raised money almost entirely through the strength of candidate advertising — Jon Ossoff has spent over $100 million in ads, while Rev. Raphael Warnock is at nearly $90 million, compared to about $53.7 million spent by Sen. Kelly Loeffler and $45.7 million for Sen. David Perdue, the Republican candidates.
The campaigns and outside sponsors wasted little time to influence the two crucial contests after Perdue and Loeffler failed to hit the 50% threshold on Election Day, setting up elections against their Democratic challengers Jan. 5.
When it comes to spending by outside groups on behalf of the candidates for Senate themselves, Republicans lead Democrats by nearly 3-to-1 — $180.5 million to $63.1 million.
Major outside GOP donors include American Crossroads — the Republican super PAC founded by Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie, Senate Leadership Fund —a super PAC affiliated with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican — and Peachtree PAC, which despite the name suggesting homegrown roots, is an arm of the Senate Leadership Fund.
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