John, in a moment, I am going to lay out everything we have to do to defeat an incumbent governor, elect Stacey Abrams and get to work for the people of Georgia.

But first, I want to share some incredible news: today, our campaign announced that we raised more than $28 million dollars and filed with $18.5 million cash on hand combined between Abrams for Governor and the One Georgia Leadership Committee for the fundraising period through June 30, 2022.

John, we outraised an incumbent governor, which is no easy feat. To unseat an extreme incumbent who has championed a dangerous and unpopular far-right agenda, we know that we have to out-raise and out-work his built in advantages of free media and doling out funds secured by federal Democrats that he opposed.

I’m particularly proud of these numbers: since our campaign’s launch in December 2021, more than 240,000 grassroots donors have made contributions of $100 or less, with the majority giving $25 or less, to ensure that Georgians have leadership that is committed to giving our families and communities the opportunity to thrive.

But there is so much more work to be done to elect Stacey Abrams. We have to continue this momentum so we reach millions of voters across the state. And with these fundraising numbers, you can be sure that Brian Kemp, national Republicans and outside groups are going to ramp up their fundraising efforts and attacks against Stacey.

That’s why I want to lay out our strategy to win between now and November, and why I hope you’ll make your first donation to power our campaign after you read it. With so much on the line, we can’t afford to lose momentum now.

DONATE

John, as we look ahead to November, our campaign will continue to aggressively fundraise and spend resources with a clear intentionality and demonstrated return on investment. Because of Georgia’s closely-divided electorate, victory depends on deep, continuous and thoughtful engagement with the most diverse electorate in the state’s history. Our proven strategy in 2018, which was validated in 2020 and 2021, relies on an intense combination of traditional outreach, innovative communication tools, voter turnout operations and voter protection models that anticipate barriers to participation.

Fully financing this strategy is vital to reach the levels of engagement and turnout required for victory. Our approach ensures that we can reach voters where they are: (1) reaching across demographics and geography, (2) providing critical education about changes to their voting experiences, and (3) effectively sharing Stacey’s vision for One Georgia and lifting up the entire Democratic ticket.

Here are some key takeaways regarding our fundraising and investment strategy:

Incumbency is its own financial advantage.
As the incumbent in this race, Brian Kemp has access and opportunity not afforded to Stacey. As governor, he receives statewide earned media for every announcement he makes, even if the announcement is the result of something he once opposed. Despite calling the American Rescue Plan “a slap in the face to hardworking Georgians” and urging Georgia’s majority GOP Congressional delegation and U.S. Senators to oppose it, Kemp has wasted no time taking credit for the federal funds it provided.

Moreover, the hypocrisy is rarely included in announcements about the distributions. Instead, he often receives uncritical mentions that allow him free advertising without meaningful contrast. The funds, secured by U.S. Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, boosted state revenues and the state budget by billions of dollars, which helped deliver $1.1 billion for tax refunds, $422 million for water and sewer projects, $408 million for rural broadband expansion and more. A new influx of surplus funding will likely yield similar coverage, giving him visibility without context.

The net result is that we must spend advertising dollars to properly characterize his actions and to generate equal coverage.

We cannot underestimate Brian Kemp’s fundraising capacity.
During the last reporting period, we were behind Kemp overall, with approximately $6 million on hand compared to Kemp’s $10.7 million. Although our current fundraising is ahead of Kemp’s, we do not have access to several avenues afforded to him as a Republican incumbent.

Recent reports detail how he is already expanding his fundraising apparatus in response to our network. The appropriate analog is Governor Ron DeSantis, who has amassed a war chest of $124 million, including 42 billionaire donors. With a competitive race and the new normal of unlimited contributions, we must assume Kemp can secure financing from a number of those donors. In addition, he has several motivated and well funded allies who spent over $6 million in advertising alone to support Kemp in his primary fight against Perdue. These outside groups will likely get into the general election fight as well on his behalf. In short, our campaign must continue to fundraise aggressively to remain competitive.

DONATE

Our campaign has made substantial investments in order to define our candidate and anchor our campaign.
During the primary period, although we did not have an opponent, the Kemp campaign and allied GOP entities outspent our operation on television, the primary medium for communications. They purchased $12.1M in statewide television, which included innumerable mentions of Stacey. This created a two-track negative approach for Kemp, where he could marshal resources for primary and general messaging due to the underwhelming competition between him and Perdue. In this phase, we were outspent on the air by $5 million, but instead focused our efforts on running a cost-effective media effort that allowed us to push back on false Republican narratives and reintroduce Stacey’s biography and accomplishments.

Kemp continues to selectively edit statements in order to misrepresent Stacey’s positions on issues, and our obligation is to forcefully combat his lies and counter with factual information. This typically requires double the effort of the original smear, increasing our costs. For the summer, we have built a large-scale effort to flip the script from the primary period, running persuasive, culturally competent and relevant paid media across all types of communication channels. In addition, we have continued to ramp up our earned efforts and Stacey’s vigorous statewide travel, all of which combine to sharply highlight Kemp and his top vulnerabilities.

In addition, we are laser-focused on reaching a diverse coalition of voters, articulating a positive vision for One Georgia, and presenting Stacey’s credentials and capacity to lead. Again, while Brian Kemp can rely on the advantage of incumbency to garner media attention, our campaign has to spend money to get our message out. We have made an early, deliberate and productive effort to ensure that our message is heard across various mediums statewide, in multiple languages and in response to regional or demographic concerns.

We must invest in educating voters about critical changes to their voting experience brought on by the passage of Kemp’s 2021 voter suppression law, Senate Bill 202.
Voters across Georgia will have to adjust to new, onerous requirements for requesting and submitting vote-by-mail applications. The false narrative that SB 202 had no effect due to high primary turnout will likely lull voters and the media into misunderstanding how voting has changed. Most voters are unaware of the new barriers to absentee ballots, polling location changes, the elimination of Sunday voting in some areas, among other impediments.

Worse, thousands of voters may not have the information they need to fully participate in a close election. It is clear Kemp is counting on voter confusion and suppression to aid him in winning this election. He even bragged that he was “as frustrated as anyone else with the [election] results, especially at the federal level. And we did something about it with Senate Bill 202.” We aim to counter by building an operation that educates voters about these changes, gets them behind our plans for Georgia’s future and ensures they show up to fire Brian Kemp and elect Stacey Abrams as Georgia’s next governor.

DONATE

Our objective is truth-telling against the GOP echo chamber.
As a favorite of FOX News and other right-wing outlets, and due to his refusal to decertify the 2020 election, Kemp benefits from the mutual yet contradictory frame of being both anti-Trump and a hard-right conservative.

In practical terms, this means our campaign must do the work of showing Georgians who he truly is in terms of proven policy and continued rhetoric — the real Kemp and his record are dangerous and very extreme hard right. From his expansion of gun laws to his dangerous and extreme abortion ban, Kemp has been unequivocal in his right-wing positions.

However, fewer understand or know about his refusal to expand Medicaid at the expense of hospitals, doctors and jobs. They are unaware of his refusal to deploy hundreds of millions of dollars to abate the state’s housing and eviction crisis. His administration’s decision to destroy thousands of canisters of baby formula barely raised a blip on the radar, and his cancellation of summer lunches for children got scant attention.

Our campaign, then, has the traditional challenger’s role of amplifying contrasts at a level that penetrates the public consciousness and conscience.

John, the recent actions of the U.S. Supreme Court spotlight how urgent it is in Georgia to have a governor who is not beholden to the hard-right, extremist elements of the GOP.

The Court shows every intention of continuing to devolve constitutional rights to the states, like abortion, LGBTQ+ protections and civil rights. Similarly, the edicts show how essential the next governor will be as the Court undercuts federal action on gun safety, climate change and voting rights. A second term of Brian Kemp promises expansions of both ambitious and extremist policies. Building voter understanding of this imminent likelihood will require multi-pronged approaches and fast responses to the changing landscape in this election cycle.

As we move into the remaining 17 weeks of this campaign, our fundraising and investments will increase commensurate with the challenge and the opportunity of this election. We will field an unprecedented campaign infrastructure that leverages our proven models for turnout, all while educating and engaging voters who are still buffeted by COVID, inflation, exhaustion and the crises of gun violence, assault on our civil rights and the political malaise that attends midterm elections.

We are working to support the Democratic Party of Georgia’s Coordinated Campaign efforts and work to elect a strong Democratic slate that will deliver for Georgians, protect our democracy and make our state the best one for all families.

We are so grateful for everything you have done to get us to this point.

But we have to understand: this fundraising report is a sign of our momentum, but is in no way a guarantee of victory in November.

Stacey will continue to articulate a clear, thoughtful and cohesive vision for Georgia, one that tackles the core issues of healthcare, education, public safety and economic security. She will argue for smart investments that use our state’s surplus to do the job of the people rather than send more money to millionaires.

She will address the exodus of teachers, the loss of healthcare workers, the scourge of rampant gun violence and the shortage of law enforcement by actually discussing the real issues and proposing achievable, economically sound solutions.

Most importantly, Stacey and our campaign are committed to reaching every voter — wherever they are — and bringing them into the campaign. Our vision of One Georgia is within reach, and we are excited to make it so.

But Stacey and I are counting on this grassroots team to make all of this work possible. Will you make your first investment to keep growing our grassroots energy right now? Anything you’re able to give — $5 or whatever makes sense for your budget right now — will make a real difference.

Thank you,
LGW

Lauren Groh-Wargo
Campaign Manager
Abrams for Georgia