Brad Raffensperger sues to win more campaign spending power in Georgia governor race

ATLANTA (AP) — Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is the latest Republican candidate for Georgia governor to attack campaign finance rules, saying they unconstitutionally limit his free speech while allowing Lt. Gov. Burt Jones to raise unlimited contributions.

Safe Affordable Georgia filed suit Monday in federal court in Atlanta asking a judge to rule that the political action committee chaired by Raffensberger can coordinate with his gubernatorial campaign in the same way that Jones’ leadership committee can.

“This filing simply asks the court to ensure fairness so that our committee has the same ability to communicate with voters as others already do,” Raffensperger said in a statement. “Equal access to speech isn’t political or complicated — it’s a foundational American principle that must be upheld.”

Republican Attorney General Chris Carr, whose gubernatorial campaign filed its own unsuccessful lawsuit earlier this year trying to stop Jones from spending from his leadership committee, announced that his office would not defend the law in court. That’s a major break for Carr, who has long maintained he has a duty to defend even the laws he doesn’t like.

It’s the latest round of litigation over Georgia’s 2021 leadership committee law. Critics see the law as an incumbent protection racket, helping Gov. Brian Kemp, Jones and other Republicans maintain control of state politics. Party legislative caucuses also control leadership committees.

The committees can raise unlimited funds, can coordinate with candidates and can raise funds during legislative sessions when other fundraising is banned. But candidates can’t establish leadership committees until they win their party’s nomination for governor or lieutenant governor. Instead, they are limited to candidate committees, which can raise a maximum of $8,400 from each donor.

Raffensperger set up an independent committee — Safe Affordable Georgia — that can raise unlimited funds and help other candidates, but not himself. But he says he should be able to use the committee in the same way Jones uses his leadership committee.

Lawyers for Raffensperger argue the current law violates his First Amendment rights to free speech and free association. They’re seeking a temporary order from a judge before a ruling on the whole case.

“Alone among current candidates for governor, the sitting lieutenant governor can solicit and accept unlimited contributions that can support his own campaign. That means that one current candidate for governor has different campaign finance rules that govern him than the other candidates. The Constitution does not allow this.”

A spokesperson for Jones declined to comment, saying the campaign hadn’t yet seen the lawsuit.

Jones, Raffensperger and Kemp are the top Republicans vying to succeed Kemp, who legally can’t run again after two terms, along with numerous Democrats. Republican and Democratic primaries are in May, followed by the general election in November 2026.

Carr’s lawsuit cited a 2022 federal court ruling that a leadership committee for Kemp couldn’t spend money during the Republican primary that year, finding the “unequal campaign finance scheme” violated challenger David Perdue’s First Amendment right to free speech.

But in August, U.S. District Judge Victoria Marie Calvert dismissed the suit, ruling Carr should have challenged the constitutionality of the law. She said it was wrong to sue Jones and his campaign for “doing exactly what Georgia law allows them to do.”

An opinion adopted by the Georgia Ethics Commission on Thursday found that Jones is allowed to loan $10 million to his leadership committee, even though Carr alleged it evaded campaign finance restrictions. The opinion clears Jones to keep spending his family fortune to pursue the Republican nomination. Jones filed documents showing he made loans of $7.5 million and $2.5 million to the WBJ Leadership Committee when he announced his run for governor on July 8.

Like Raffensperger, supporters of Carr have established an independent committee that can’t coordinate with Carr’s campaign.