Perdue Complains of Out-of-State Money Flowing Into Georgia Senate Runoffs

Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) speaks at a campaign event to supporters at a restaurant in Cumming, Ga., on Nov. 13, 2020. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)

Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) on Sunday complained about Democratic contenders of Georgia's Senate runoffs for taking massive amounts of money from out-of-state sources.

Georgia's two Senate seats were sent into runoffs after none of this year's candidates reached the 50 percent of the vote needed to win. The Republican incumbents, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, will face off again with their Democrat challengers, Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, respectively, on Jan. 5.

In an interview with Fox News, Perdue said most of the campaign contributions Warnock and Ossoff received were not from Georgia, but Democratic strongholds such as California and New York.

"Who would believe that you could spend a half a billion dollars in two Senate seats in one state, but it might happen," Perdue said. "In my general election, my opponent, just like Kelly Loeffler's opponent, most of their money is coming from out of state, mostly California and New York."

"We don't want that from outside the state coming down here trying to dictate what we're going to do," Perdue added.

According to polling and election analytic website FiveThirtyEight, Democrats from every state are donating to Georgia. About 96 percent of the money Warnock and Ossoff have raised via Democrat fundraising platform ActBlue are from out-of-state donors. As of Nov. 23, the two have raised a combined $4.3 million from Georgians through ActBlue, the seventh highest from the platform behind California ($25.8 million), New York ($10.6 million), Washington ($6.2 million), Massachusetts ($5.8 million), Texas ($4.9 million) and Florida ($4.8 million).

Meanwhile, Loeffler and Perdue are also taking grassroots donations from across the country. FiveThirtyEight reported that 92 percent of their runoff donations on WinRed, the Republican counterpart of ActBlue, have come from outside Georgia, including $6.8 million from California, $6.6 million from Texas, and $6.5 million from Florida. They raised $4.4 million on WinRed in their home state.

When the new Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3, the Republicans will hold a 50–48 seat advantage in the Senate. Democrats will then need to win both of Georgia's runoffs to deny a Republican majority.

"This race has become a national race so this is everybody in the country, Democrats and Republicans, trying to weigh in here to get the majority and the Senate and it's very simple," Perdue said. "If we keep the majority, we not only hold a line against the Democratic agenda, but we also protect the gains that we made under President [Donald] Trump over the last four years."

Last month, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) announced that he would donate $1 million to help Loeffler and Perdue retain their seats, saying that the Republicans must win Georgia to prevent Democrats from enacting "the most radical agenda in the history of American politics."

"I'm going to ask my donors to help Georgia," he said during an interview on Fox News. "I would encourage every other Republican just don't go to Georgia, give to Georgia."