Stacey Abrams’ second gubernatorial campaign raised over $100 million and lost.
However…Stacey Abrams’ gubernatorial campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo that the campaign owes over $1 million to vendors.
The tight money situation hit the campaign right after the election. Most of the full-time staffers received notice that their last paycheck would come a week after the election.
- “People have told me they have no idea how they’re going to pay their rent in January,” one former staffer told Axios. “It was more than unfortunate. It was messed up.”
Driving the news: Groh-Wargo told Axios that a “cavalcade of negative press and negative polling” made fundraising difficult in the final months. She said the campaign had engaged brokers to sell their donor and voter contact databases to try to pay down the debt over time.
- “We did not just lose, we got blown out,” she said. “It was the most sub-optimal situation to be in. And we will be dealing with that situation for some time.”
What they’re saying: “Of course, I would have loved to do a lot of things differently,” Groh-Wargo said. “But I had to move as fast as possible.”
- “We tried to do the best we could to make sure that help would be there for folks,” she said, pointing to health insurance benefits that lasted through November.
Another Abrams campaign staffer explained, “that the compensation was high for campaigns.” That means the campaign overpaid people.
Abrams ran out of money during the 2018 primary. Georgia Democratic operative Chris Huttman described the money problems as a “well-documented pattern.”
Groh-Wargo brushed off comparisons to the 2018 primary. I guess she doesn’t like people pointing out her faults.
The other Georgia campaigns had no problems with money:
Gov. Brian Kemp’s campaign staff was paid through November, plus bonuses. Staff for both Herschel Walker and Sen. Raphael Warnock are being paid through December — all according to campaign officials.
Maybe Abrams can fork over some money from any appearances or TV spots she has in the near future.
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