SOS: Nguyen leads GOP rivals in campaign cash
Hice significantly outraises Raffensperger
The election for Governor and U.S. Senate are garnering a lot of attention, but the race to be Georgia’s top elections official will be one of the most consequential contests on the ballot this November. After a controversial 2020 presidential campaign, the race for Secretary of State has taken on a whole new meaning.
As we know, former President Donald Trump has made this race a top priority because of his animosity towards Republican incumbent Brad Raffensperger, who resisted calls to overturn the 2020 election results despite enormous pressure from the Trump campaign and the former President himself.
Those efforts are now the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation.
Trump has endorsed Raffensperger’s main GOP rival: U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, a far-right Congressman and a pastor who hails from northeast Georgia and helped spearhead efforts in Congress to invalidate electors in swing states won by President Joe Biden.
According to fundraising reports submitted this week, Hice’s campaign raised over $1 million between July and January, while spending nearly $900,000 during the same period. He starts the new year with almost $650,000 in his campaign bank account.
The embattled incumbent, meanwhile, raised nearly $600,000 in the last seven months, though he has avoided spending most of his money thus far. He has about $513,000 on hand. His campaign says that most of his donations are from Georgia Republican voters — an apparent swipe at Hice.
The winner of this bruising primary is likely to face a tough challenge in the general election. Democratic Party leaders appear to be rallying behind Bee Nguyen, a state lawmaker from DeKalb County.
According to campaign filings, Nguyen reported raising about $691,000 between July and January. She currently leads both Hice and Raffensperger in cash on hand, with about $945,000 in her campaign bank account.
The fundraising figures indicate an expensive race for Secretary of State. According to research from Axios, Raffensperger had a little over $75,000 in his account at this point in 2018. Former Congressman John Barrow, Raffensperger’s Democratic opponent that year, had about $240,000 on hand in January 2018.
The race for Secretary of State is going to be extremely consequential and will have a significant impact on how Georgians cast their ballots. Between new election laws, ballot dropboxes and early voting, nothing will be off limits in this race.
Before we know it, we will be in the thick of another presidential campaign. The winner of this race is going to be the face of Georgia’s vote count in the 2024 presidential election.
Very very Interesting