It looks like the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial campaign just got worse for anyone and anything to do with Democrat Stacey Abrams, who also lost in 2022 as well in her rematch against Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. On Wednesday, news came out that the New Georgia Project and New Georgia Project Action Fund, groups founded by Abrams in 2013, agreed to pay a record-high $300,000 fine for breaking state campaign finance laws during the 2018 campaign cycle. One of the leaders of the New Georgia Project included now Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) at the time.
"Nonprofit Founded by Stacey Abrams Admits Secretly Aiding Her 2018 Campaign," a damning headline from The New York Times read on Wednesday. As that report mentioned:
A nonprofit founded by Stacey Abrams, a Georgia Democrat, admitted on Wednesday that it had violated state law by concealing the fact that it had campaigned for her during her 2018 run for governor.
At the time of that campaign, the group was led by Raphael Warnock, who was later elected to the Senate as a Democrat from Georgia.
At a meeting of the state’s ethics commission, the nonprofit New Georgia Project conceded that it had paid for fliers and door-to-door canvassers telling voters to support Ms. Abrams and other Democrats.
Under federal law, tax-exempt charities like this one are forbidden to campaign for candidates, but this case was about a violation of state law.
The nonprofit conceded that, because of its campaign work for Ms. Abrams, it should have registered with the state as a political committee, but it did not. A related nonprofit, the New Georgia Project Action Fund, admitted the same.
As a result, the two nonprofits agreed to pay a $300,000 penalty. David Emadi, the executive director of the commission, said it was the largest fine in its 38-year history.
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Under federal tax law, a tax-exempt charity can register voters but not tell them whom to vote for. In 2018, however, the New Georgia Project did just that, the state ethics commission said.
The commission said the nonprofit paid for fliers endorsing Ms. Abrams and for canvassers who were told to say, “She’s the leader we trust to fight for us under the gold dome” of Georgia’s State Capitol.
Some of the canvassers were nominally paid for by the related nonprofit, the New Georgia Project Action Fund, which has more legal leeway to campaign. But Mr. Emadi said there was actually little distinction between the groups. Bank records showed that the New Georgia Project was in charge of it all.
In all, the two nonprofits acknowledged that they should have disclosed $3.2 million in spending.
Mr. Emadi called the nonprofits’ spending the “most amount of money that we’ve ever caught a group dumping to illegally influence our elections.”
The Georgia ethics commission includes four Republicans and one Democrat. In 2022, the commission voted unanimously that there was probable cause that the nonprofit had violated the law, a vote that allowed the investigation to proceed.
The New Georgia Project’s admissions raised questions about whether it had also violated the provision in federal tax law that bars tax-exempt charities from endorsing candidates. The Internal Revenue Service, which enforces that rule, declined to comment.
The battle has been ongoing since 2019. Townhall has also covered the concerns facing the New Georgia Project over the years.
Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the groups paying a fine of $150,000 this year, and then $150,000 in a year. "They praised the work of the committee’s staff and the state attorney general in pursuing the case over five years in the face of what they described as the nonprofits’ refusal to cooperate," the report also said about commissioners.
The report also that the accusations of wrongdoing didn't seek to personally punish Abrams and Warnock, but rather at the nonprofits:
A spokesman for Ms. Abrams said in a statement that “Stacey hasn’t been involved in the organization’s work since she departed in 2017.” Mr. Warnock’s Senate staff issued a statement saying that, while he was the leader of the New Georgia Project in 2018, “compliance decisions were not a part of that work.”
During the ethics commission meeting on Wednesday, David Fox, a lawyer for the nonprofits, said they were “eager to put the matter behind them.”
“At a fundamental level, my clients understand and respect the commission’s decision on the facts of the law,” Mr. Fox said, appearing via a video linkup, “and we believe that this is a reasonable resolution of this longstanding dispute.”
The ethics commission’s charges were aimed at the nonprofits. It did not seek to punish Ms. Abrams or Mr. Warnock personally.
As Sister Toldjah pointed out at our sister state of RedState, the commission's executive director, David Emadi, and the complaint, including a separate complaint, are also mentioned by the Associated Press. "The complaint was filed in 2019 and survived multiple court challenges, accessing emails in an effort to prove the groups improperly coordinated with Abrams’ 2018 campaign. Wednesday’s consent decree contains no such findings, but Emadi said a separate complaint alleging illegal coordination remains under investigation," that report mentioned, with added emphasis.
The Washington Free Beacon also quoted Americans for Public Trust executive director Caitlin Sutherland in expressing hope that the IRS also gets involved in investigating. "Stacey Abrams's nonprofit finally admitted what they've been accused of for years: They used charitable dollars to aid her failed gubernatorial campaign," Sutherland told the outlet. "While this $300,000 state violation is a great first step, New Georgia Project should also be investigated on the federal level, which would help determine the extent of Senator Warnock's involvement while he led the organization."
NEW: @SenatorWarnock-Led Charity Admits It Illegally Campaigned for @StaceyAbrams, Will Pay $300K Fine:@CaitlinAPT: “New Georgia Project should also be investigated on the federal level…would help determine the extent of Senator Warnock's involvement.”https://t.co/ABef1o4wx4
— Americans for Public Trust (@apublictrust) January 15, 2025
While Abrams lost the 2018 and 2022 gubernatorial elections, she hasn't ruled out another run for public office. The New York Times also mentions that the group was credited with Democrats winning in the Peach State for 2020, with President Joe Biden narrowly winning the state that year, and Warnock, and Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff both winning their races, in a runoff that took place on January 5, 2021.
Warnock won again in 2022, in a runoff against Republican Herschel Walker, who has since been named as President-elect Donald Trump ambassador to the Bahamas. Warnock is next up for reelection in 2028, while Ossoff is up for reelection in 2026 and may face a particularly tough battle, especially with his anti-Israel votes from late last November. Trump also managed to beat Vice President Kamala Harris in Georgia, just as he did every other swing state for the 2024 election.