Georgia’s Republican gubernatorial primary just keeps getting more chaotic as nearly $5 million in negative ads continues to roil the race.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Burt Jones’ campaign is desperately urging Atlanta-based TV stations to stop airing ads put out by the mysterious group Georgians for Integrity, which is brutally attacking his long record of self-enrichment in public office.
It’s unclear who is behind Georgians for Integrity and who is putting up the money, but it has caused intense infighting, with Jones’ campaign pointing fingers at his Republican rivals and calling them “Never-Trumpers [who] can’t gain traction because they’re wrong on virtually every issue Republican voters care about.”
Jones has long faced questions about self-dealing in public office. At the heart of these ads is a law that Jones himself pushed which would give him and his family a massive pay day from the construction of 13 “mammoth” data centers. The project is immersed in controversy, with the Georgia Recorder reporting community members’ deep concerns over how much water and electricity it will use.
Read more from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the latest chaos in the Georgia GOP primary for governor:
- Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and his Republican allies are hitting back against the secretive group airing millions of dollars of ads attacking him.
- At issue is a group that has spent more than $4 million so far on ads and flyers attacking the GOP front-runner. Sleuths in both parties say they haven’t been able to determine who is behind the organization, which has left a paper trail stretching from Delaware to Utah to a post office box in Atlanta.
- In a separate letter to television stations, Jones’ attorney Vincent Russo argued the group made “demonstrably false” claims in an ad scrutinizing the Republican’s role in a $10 billion megaproject his family’s company proposed.
- The mysterious nature of the broadsides have triggered a political guessing game. The campaigns of Jones’ top Republican rivals — Attorney General Chris Carr and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — both insist they’re not involved.
- Democrats aren’t claiming credit, either. Even former Gov. Roy Barnes has tried to stamp out speculation that he’s behind it.
- Whoever is financing the ads is sending a message. The amount of spending eclipses what several high-profile candidates have so far raised for their entire campaigns.
- And it is a big swing for this point on the calendar. Voters right now are typically more focused on holiday plans than campaign feuding. It could reflect a bold pre-holiday gamble or a sign that more money is waiting in the wings.
###