Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock raised more money than any Senate candidate in history
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Top line
Fundraising figures filed with the Federal Election Commission confirmed what had long been suspected: Georgia Senate pivotal runoffs that shifted Senate control broke price records, the race between Jon Ossoff and David Perdue having arrived as the most expensive ever and the Raphael Warnock-Kelly Loeffler race follows closely behind.
Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, then Georgia Democratic Senate candidates, greet each other on stage … [+]
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Highlights
Ossoff’s campaign raised $ 162.6 million as part of his successful challenge against incumbent Senator David Perdue – by far the most money of any candidate for Congress.
Warnock came in second with $ 147.1 million, still enough to edge out the candidate who had only recently set the old fundraising record, South Carolina Democrat Jaime Harrison, whose campaign has racked up $ 130.2 million in his 2020 unsuccessful challenge from Senator Lindsey Graham (RS. C.).
The Ossoff-Perdue race was the most expensive in history, with Perdue raising around $ 103 million for a combined total of $ 265.5 million raised between the two candidates.
The Warnock-Loeffler race ranked third most expensive races of all time, behind the Graham-Harrison race, after Loeffler raised $ 92.2 million for a combined $ 239.3 million. dollars.
Warnock beat Loeffler in the second round winning just over 51% of the vote, with Ossoff winning his race by a smaller margin, garnering just over 50.6% of the vote.
Large number
$ 937 million. By adding the external money declared by the Center for Responsive Policy, that’s how much money was collected between the two Senate races.
Key context
The runoff was not unexpected in either race, given Georgia’s electoral process and poll precision, but results of other Senate races across the country in November put Georgia in the dramatic position of deciding on its own which party would control the US Senate. . Democrats faced an uphill battle after disappointing results in the November contests, needing to reliably topple the two Republican incumbents in the long red state in order to claim the Senate by the slimmest of margins possible. But both Democratic candidates were aided by the money that poured into Georgia after Joe Biden’s narrow victory there, making him the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state since Bill Clinton in 1992. Les two Senate candidates ended up winning by a larger margin than Biden, who beat former President Donald Trump in Georgia by just around 12,000 votes, leading to a series of stories affirming his victory.
Surprising fact
Much of Loeffler’s fundraising was actually his own money. About $ 23 million of the $ 92.2 million she said she raised was the result of a loan from herself.
Further reading
Results are in: Georgia Senate races shatter donations, spending records (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Georgia recertifies Biden victory after failed Trump-ordered recount (Forbes)