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A flood of donations inundated Georgia's Senate races this past fall, with financial contributions from organizations and individuals across the U.S. establishing new fundraising records between mid-October and mid-December.
Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings confirmed that congressional campaigns for the southern state's four candidates—incumbent Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, as well as Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock—received roughly $340 million, collectively, over the course of that two-month period.
Donors based in California provided the most substantial contributions to Ossoff, Warnock and Loeffler's campaigns, compared with those based in any other U.S. state. Nearly $32 million in funds given to the three candidates came from Golden State supporters.
California donors also contributed notably to Perdue's campaign during the past two months, although their donations fell behind others the Republican incumbent received from donors in Georgia, Florida and Texas.
Both challengers outraised their Republican counterparts during the final stretch of Georgia's Senate elections, FEC documents show. Ossoff's campaign reported the largest fundraising haul of all four contenders, having earned about $107 million in donations. Perdue, meanwhile, raised about $68 million. The sum collected by his opponent exceeded a previous record set by Democrat Jaime Harrison's campaign earlier this year, as it raced to unseat South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. The incumbent was ultimately reelected in November.
Warnock's campaign raised $103 million between October 15 and December 16. Loeffler's campaign earned almost $64 million throughout the same time period. However, despite both Democrats' fundraising successes, additional data collected by analytics firms suggests that Perdue and Loeffler's campaigns have received much larger contributions from outside groups than their Democratic competitors.
Donations issued to Ossoff's campaign from California exceeded $14 million, which was the state's most sizable cumulative contribution to any Georgia candidate. Warnock's campaign received upwards of $13 million from California donors, while Loeffler's received $4 million.
The pool of California donors who contributed to the two Georgia Democrats' campaigns included a handful of actors and directors, where business professionals and company executives were among those who contributed to Loeffler's campaign.
Newsweek reached out to the campaigns of Loeffler, Ossoff and Warnock for comments, but did not receive replies in time for publication.
The outpouring of monetary support to Georgia's Senate candidates comes as the state's runoff elections began to draw national attention. Because no individual contender received at least 50 percent of the popular vote on Election Day, races between Perdue and Ossoff, in addition to Loeffler and Warnock, moved to runoffs after November 3. The elections are set to take place next Tuesday, January 5. Their outcomes will determine if Democrats gain control of the U.S. Senate, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris' tie-breaking vote, or Republicans maintain their majority.
