McConnell Groups Dumping $22M+ into GA-Sen & Another $4M+ into KY-Sen

It looks like the Republican panic is escalating…

Republicans are once again moving the battle lines backwards this cycle, as the top McConnell-aligned outside groups were forced to stretch their resources even further on defense today with more than $22 million in new dark money and Super PAC ad buys in Georgia and another $4.3 million in dark money spending in Kentucky.

• The McConnell-aligned dark money group, One Nation, is placing a $8.65 million ad buy starting in August. The McConnell-aligned Super PAC, Senate Leadership Fund, is placing a $13.5 million ad buy to start in September. All of the new money in Georgia is going to bail out Senator David Perdue, who is facing a strong challenge from Jon Ossoff.

• One Nation’s additional investment in Kentucky brings the total ad spending reserved there by McConnell outside groups to $15 million.

Last week, the NRSC IE announced it would spend more than $2.1 million on ads in Georgia starting in mid-July. Taken all together, that brings total Republican spending from McConnell-aligned groups in Georgia to $24 million for the summer and fall — as much outside money as we’re seeing in other top Senate battlegrounds like Iowa and Arizona.

The news comes after the Cook Political Report moved the presidential race in Georgia to Toss-Up today and two recent polls found Ossoff narrowly leading Senator Perdue, a weak incumbent who’s now locked in a margin of error race. Ossoff also posted his strongest fundraising haul to date in Q2: he will report raising more than $3.45 million overall with an average contribution of roughly $20, including more than $2.3 million raised in just the three weeks after he won the primary. Perdue has not yet released his fundraising numbers.

Coming out of her primary win, Amy McGrath reported her own record-breaking fundraising with $17.4 million for the quarter. McConnell has also not yet released his fundraising numbers.

Like we’ve been saying for months: the map is expanding, these states are increasingly competitive (even Perdue agrees with us there), and this is A LOT of defense for Republicans.

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