Another Georgia lawsuit targets unlimited campaign cash

David Wickert, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Dec 18, 2024

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ATLANTA — Georgia’s Libertarian and Green parties have challenged a state law that allows major party nominees for governor and lieutenant governor and incumbent leaders in the General Assembly to skirt campaign contribution limits.

Under the 2021 law, Republican and Democratic nominees for those offices can form “leadership” committees that can raise unlimited funds, while other candidates for statewide office are limited to receiving $8,400 from individual donors for the primary election and the same amount for the general election.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, the Libertarian and Green parties say the disparity violates their equal protection and free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution. At least four previous lawsuits have challenged the law, with mixed results.

In 2022, Republican David Perdue and Democrat Stacey Abrams filed separate lawsuits challenging the law. Perdue ran against Gov. Brian Kemp in the primary election that year, while Abrams challenged him in the general election.

Both challengers argued the law gave Kemp an unfair and illegal advantage. As the incumbent, Kemp could raise unlimited contributions, while they had to wait until they won their party’s nomination for governor.

In both case, U.S. District Judge Mark Cohen found merit to their arguments. In the Perdue lawsuit, he ordered Kemp’s political committee — Georgians First — to refrain from spending money to support his candidacy until he had secured the Republican nomination for governor. In Abrams’ lawsuit, he ordered the committee to stop raising money until he won the nomination.

Though they won temporary victories in court, Perdue and Abrams both fell to Kemp at the ballot box.

Subsequent lawsuits were not successful.

In 2022, Ryan Graham, the Libertarian Party nominee for lieutenant governor, filed a lawsuit seeking to bar Attorney General Chris Carr and the state ethics commission from enforcing the law. Cohen rejected his arguments, in part because there was no indication the defendants were threatening action against Graham.

And last summer the Democratic Party of Georgia argued the law allowed Kemp to raise unlimited cash for Republican legislative candidates, putting Democratic candidates at a disadvantage. But Cohen rejected the argument as too speculative — it didn’t challenge specific Kemp contributions to particular legislative candidates.

The latest lawsuit says the law illegally allows only major party candidates for governor and lieutenant governor to form leadership committees. The Libertarian and Green parties seek to prevent Carr and the ethics commission from enforcing the law in a manner that violates their constitutional rights.