Georgia Democrats sue to overturn law allowing unlimited campaign cash, saying GOP unfairly benefits

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Democrats are suing to overturn the ability of Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and others to raise unlimited political contributions and spend them on behalf of any political cause.

The Democratic Party of Georgia on Thursday filed suit against the governor in federal court in Atlanta. The lawsuit asks a judge to declare that a 2021 law that created leadership committees is unconstitutional because it unfairly gives unlimited fundraising powers to some people but not others.

The party is asking a judge for a preliminary injunction to freeze fundraising and spending under the law while the suit moves toward trial. That could limit the ability of Kemp and others to raise and spend money on legislative races this fall. Kemp has pledged his leadership committee will raise and spend $1.5 million to support some Republican legislative incumbents and seek to defeat some Democratic incumbents.

While Democrats say they don’t expect to win enough seats to control the 180-member state House, they’re aiming to cut into the Republicans’ current 102-78 majority.

Right now, legislative candidates are limited to raising $3,300 apiece for a primary and general election from contributors, and $1,800 apiece for runoffs after the primary and general. That means candidates can raise between $3,300 and $10,200 depending on how many elections are held.

But leadership committees can raise and spend unlimited sums on behalf of any candidate, coordinating directly with the candidate’s campaign. They can also raise money while the state legislature is in session, while traditional candidate committees must turn away contributions during that time. The 2021 law allows the governor and lieutenant governor, opposing major party nominees, and Democratic and Republican caucuses in both the state House and Senate to form leadership committees.

Jen Jordan, a former state senator who lost a 2022 race for attorney general, said the law really benefits Republicans in power, saying “it adds steroids to the advantages of incumbency.”

The measure was widely seen as aimed at helping Kemp get reelected without having to rely on the state Republican Party. Kemp has had rocky relations with the party apparatus, in part because he and Donald Trump have feuded. Kemp’s Georgians First Leadership Committee raised $43.6 million to support his 2022 reelection campaign, although Democrat Stacey Abrams, who lost to Kemp by a healthy margin, actually outraised Kemp, in part because of money raised by Abrams’ own leadership committee.

But state law requires losing party nominees like Abrams to shut down their leadership committees after their loss. Kemp and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a fellow Republican, were allowed to keep raising money, and could transfer those contributions to other political committees.

Kemp has raised $8.7 million since 2022 and has transferred $1 million to a federal political action committee he created. He could transfer more money to a federal committee if he chooses to run for senator in 2026, or to the committee of the next Republican nominee for governor. That could be Jones, who could also transfer cash from his lieutenant governor committee to a committee backing a run for governor.

“You can’t have a system or a scheme set up where really you have one set of candidates that are able to circumvent the system in terms of any restrictions on contributions and giving and also expenditures, said Jordan, a lawyer handling the suit for the Democratic Party.

Cody Hall, a spokesperson for Kemp’s political organization, declined comment, saying lawyers were still reviewing the suit.

The law has faced earlier challenges from Abrams and from former U.S. Sen. David Perdue, who lost badly to Kemp in a 2022 Republican primary challenge. In those cases a federal judge temporarily crimped Kemp’s ability to raise and spend money from the leadership committee but didn’t overturn the law. Jordan said this lawsuit is different, arguing that the measure violates party members’ First Amendment rights of free speech and free association under the U.S. Constitution and their 14th Amendment rights to be treated equally.

“If you have one side that is allowed to collect unlimited amounts of money in order to influence political campaigns while the other side is handcuffed, the U.S. Supreme Court has been very clear that violates free speech and association rights of anyone who doesn’t share or have the same ability to do that,” Jordan said.