U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler (left), U.S. Rep. Doug Collins (center) and Rev. Raphael Warnock (right) are competing in the Nov. 3 special election.
U.S. Rep. Doug Collins has outraised U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., in recent months in the hotly contested race for her Senate seat, while Democratic challenger Rev. Raphael Warnock topped them both, according to campaign finance figures.
Loeffler, a Buckhead businesswoman, still by far enjoys the largest campaign war chest with $7 million in the bank, propped up by millions of dollars in personal loans.
Fundraising figures filed this week show Collins topping Loeffler by roughly $400,000 in donations between April and June. Collins raised about $1.3 million compared to Loeffler’s nearly $910,000.
The firebrand congressman from Gainesville also has more than $2.6 million on hand to spend.
Warnock, meanwhile, nabbed nearly $3 million in donations as the Democratic front-runner in the race. It was the second quarter in a row that Warnock, chief pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, raised more than his Republican counterparts as they compete for votes within their own party.
Warnock’s campaign said he now has more than $2.9 million in cash on hand.
Loeffler, a first-time candidate, has pumped $15 million of her own money into her campaign so far. She has deep pockets as a former head of an Atlanta-based bitcoin company and the wife of billionaire executive Jeff Sprecher, whose Atlanta-based company owns the New York Stock Exchange.
Collins has leaned on his grassroots support among Georgia conservatives and his close ties to President Donald Trump. His campaign highlighted his recent topping of Loeffler in fundraising as evidence of sway with local voters.
Trump had glowing words to say about both Republican candidates during a visit to Atlanta on Wednesday.
Warnock has reeled in contributions from Democratic donors in recent months amid a spate of high-profile endorsements from local and national Democratic leaders who have elevated him to the top of the party’s ticket in the Senate contest.
The race for Loeffler’s seat has drawn a field of 21 candidates in a special election to fill the remainder of former U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson’s term. Isakson retired at the end of last year, prompting Gov. Brian Kemp to tap Loeffler to hold the seat until the election.
The Nov. 3 election is an open election, meaning candidates from all parties will be on the same ballot. A runoff between the top two finishers will be held in January if no candidate gains a simple majority.
Campaigning has seen a shift in focus in recent weeks toward more cultural and social issues amid nationwide protests against racial injustice and police brutality. Economic and health issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic also continue to dominate debate between the Senate candidates.
ATLANTA – Georgia’s state-financed venture capital fund has been left with only operating money for the foreseeable future, a victim of the deep budget cuts the General Assembly approved last month.
Invest Georgia, which received allocations of $10 million in each of the last four fiscal years, is being hit with a $9.75 million reduction for fiscal 2021, which began July 1. The cut came as lawmakers were casting a wide net to find $2.2 billion in spending reductions to help offset the fiscal impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The VC fund has enough leftover capital from fiscal 2020 to continue investing in Georgia-based growth and early-stage companies through the end of this calendar year, Knox Massey, Invest Georgia’s executive director, said this week. But the fund’s future beyond that is uncertain.
“The cut was a surprise, and it’s disappointing,” Massey said. “But there was a lot of pressure on the state to generate revenue wherever they could.”
Invest Georgia was created in 2013 as a priority initiative of then-Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle.
Since then, it has invested in 10 private-equity funds, most recently in Atlanta’s early-stage VC firm Tech Square Ventures. Invest Georgia partnered with Cox Enterprises and Georgia-Pacific in a $25 million investment announced early this month.
“A huge portion of our funds go to Georgia companies, which create jobs,” Massey said. “We consider ourselves part of the solution.”
Cagle’s successor as lieutenant governor, Geoff Duncan, who formed a task force of political, business and academic leaders in January to look for ideas on how to make Georgia a technology center, believes Invest Georgia has an important role to play in achieving that goal, spokeswoman Macy McFall said.
“The lieutenant governor has always been a supporter of Invest Georgia and the work they do to fund innovation and entrepreneurship across our state,” she said. “It is [his] sincere hope that the economic outlook for our state quickly improves and that adjustments can be made in January to restore some of the funding in this area, and he hopes that Invest Georgia will be among the far-reaching public-private partnerships that will take us towards the goal of being the best technology state on the East Coast.”
ATLANTA – Georgia’s unemployment rate fell last month to well below the national rate but still far above pre-coronavirus levels.
Unemployment in June stood at 7.6%, down 1.8% compared to the previous month but more than twice the jobless rate of 3.5% posted in June of last year.
Last month’s report from the Georgia Department of Labor also revealed month-over-month increases in the state’s labor force, the number of employed Georgians and the number of jobs.
“June was the first month to show positive numbers in all major indicators since the pandemic started,” state Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler said Thursday.
The improving employment figures come even as the number of coronavirus cases in Georgia rise at an alarming rate. While lower unemployment is a result of the state’s economy continuing to reopen, there’s no guarantee the ratcheting up of business activity won’t hit a bump.
“We are not naïve to the fact that we may see another tick up in [unemployment] claims over the next few months,” Butler said. “We will continue to work unemployment claims both new and continued to ensure all Georgians are being taken care of during these unprecedented times.”
Despite the improving unemployment picture, first-time unemployment claims actually increased last week after declining for 10 weeks in a row. Initial claims for the week ending July 11 were up 34,862 from the previous week, for a total of 138,452.
Butler said his department is going to examine the increase in claims to determine whether fraud was involved.
“Many states have seen sharp increases in claims numbers leading to the uncovering of large fraud rings and individual fraudulent claims that led to criminal charges and prosecution,” he said.
June showed an increase of 118,100 employed Georgians, bringing the total to more than 4.5 million. The state’s labor force was up by 31,100 to more than 4.9 million.
Jobs in Georgia increased by 150,200 during the month to nearly 4.4 million.
U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler speaks at the state Capitol after qualifying for the 2020 election on March 2, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., raised almost $910,000 in campaign contributions during the second quarter, according to a report filed this week with the Federal Election Commission.
However, the wealthy Atlanta businesswoman continued to primarily self-fund her bid for a full six-year Senate term. She loaned her campaign $5 million during the second quarter, bringing her total personal loans to $15 million since Gov. Brian Kemp appointed her late last year to succeed retiring Sen. Johnny Isakson.
Under unique election rules that apply to Loeffler’s status as an interim senator, she will defend the seat Nov. 3 in a free-for-all contest that features 21 candidates, including Republicans and Democrats. If no one receives more than 50% of the vote, a likely outcome in such a crowded race, the top two finishers will square off in a runoff in early January.
Loeffler’s chief competition within her party is U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville. On the Democratic side, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, chief pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, is poised for a strong run at the seat.
Loeffler’s deep pockets put her campaign in good position financially as the contest moves forward. She reported more than $7 million cash on hand as of June 30.
“Senator Loeffler is building a substantial war chest ahead of the November election,” campaign spokesman Stephen Lawson said. “Kelly has also built a robust field operation, contacting tens of thousands of voters each week and mobilizing grassroots supporters in all 159 counties.”
Warnock raised more than $2.85 million in April, May and June. Collins raised $2.5 million during the first quarter. His second-quarter report was not on file with the FEC as of Thursday morning.
Coronavirus has sickened tens of thousands and killed thousands more in Georgia. (Image: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Gov. Brian Kemp renewed orders late Wednesday to keep Georgia’s current social distancing and safety rules imposed through the end of July to discourage the spread of coronavirus in place for businesses, schools and public gatherings.
The latest executive order also contains new language requiring that any masking mandates put in place by city or county governments that go beyond the state’s voluntary measures “are suspended.”
That move could set up a legal battle between Kemp and local officials in Atlanta, Savannah, Athens and several other communities in Georgia where mask requirements were recently imposed.
The governor’s order arrived hours before a slate of COVID-19 restrictions were set to expire at Wednesday’s end. Kemp has executive authority to issue emergency orders through at least Aug. 11.
As of Wednesday afternoon, nearly 128,000 people in Georgia had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel strain of coronavirus that sparked a global pandemic. It had killed 3,091 Georgians.
While a host of Georgia businesses have been allowed to reopen since May, they are still required by the governor’s orders to abide by several measures to keep people separated from each other, maintain clean surfaces and send workers home if they show symptoms of coronavirus.
A shelter-in-place order has been in effect since late March for Georgians in long-term care facilities and those with chronic medical conditions including lung disease, moderate to severe asthma, severe heart disease, compromised immune systems, severe obesity and diabetes.
In particular, large gatherings in Georgia have been limited to no more than 50 people if they cannot keep at least six feet apart. That applies to restaurants, bars and other popular gathering spots.
Conventions, sports stadiums and performance venues were allowed to reopen July 1 under distancing, sanitizing and signage rules. But Kemp has suggested he could pull the plug on fall sports like football if people disregard wearing masks.
Kemp’s new order says any city or county rules “requiring persons to wear face coverings, masks, face shields” or other kinds of protective equipment in public “are suspended to the extent that they are more restrictive than” the state’s guidelines.
Asked whether the new language is aimed specifically at preventing local governments from imposing mask mandates, Kemp’s office reiterated the governor’s previous position on the matter.
“We’ve been clear in previous orders and statements that local mask mandates are unenforceable,” said Candice Broce, Kemp’s communications director. “The Governor has encouraged Georgians to wear them voluntarily for months now.”
Mask-wearing in Georgia has been a testy subject in recent weeks. Kemp remains under pressure to impose mandatory masking requirements as positive COVID-19 cases continue rising in the state, and several cities have ordered residents to wear facial coverings in public.
The governor’s latest order came shortly Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey placed her state under a mask mandate through July. Several other states have also required masking.
Kemp’s statewide rules for Georgia so far have “strongly encouraged” voluntary mask-wearing even as many health experts and local elected officials have urged him to take a mandatory approach or at least let counties and cities set their own masking rules.
To date, Kemp’s orders on COVID-19 have required city and county governments to adopt the state’s rules rather than impose their own.
Last week, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms issued a citywide masking requirement that argued the governor’s statewide orders do not explicitly address mask mandates, posing a legal loophole for local governments to adopt their own measures.
Kemp’s office has dismissed the Atlanta mask mandate as unenforceable.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson pressed Kemp again Wednesday to grant local governments leeway to require public masking. He said in a news conference the city’s mask mandate has prompted residents and visitors alike to wear masks amid the summer season.
“It’s been very clear more people are wearing masks,” Johnson said. “I think sometimes people need a rule.”
