GRIFFIN, Ga. – Under the control of the Senate, a flood of money is pouring into Georgia in the twin election elections, with over $ 2 million a day in TV and radio commercials, and spending is only just beginning before Jan. 5 votes.
“Most people say, ‘Do we really have to go through all this?’ after the presidential election just weeks ago, Republican voter Richard DiGloria of Gwinnett County, Atlanta, said.
According to advertising tracking firm Advertising Analytics, more than $ 46 million has been spent on air since both Nov. 3 election day, another $ 214 million has already been booked, and many more are expected to come before the election.
The tournaments – GOP Senator Kelly Loeffler faced Democratic Challenger Raphael Warnock and Republican Senator David Perdue, rival Democracy rival Jon Ossoff – are expected to be the most expensive Senate tournaments as a blast of political attacks over the holiday season threatens a merry Christmas in a state that is just beginning to deal with the new battlefield status.
In addition to campaigns in which both local and large donors poured money into their coffers, spending was dominated by super PACs deeply pocketed on both sides of the corridor, which spend a lot on Senate tournaments.
Democratically, the Senate majority PAC has created two spinoffs to display ads against Loeffler and Perdue, including places that seek to portray them as a creature in the Washington swamp, perhaps to prevent President Donald Trump’s supporters from participating. they quarreled with state GOP leaders to justify the victory of elected president Joe Biden in the state.
On behalf of Republicans, GOP operative Karl Rove and the Senate Leadership Fund have pledged to spend tens of millions of dollars, including on ads aimed at discouraging moderate suburban voters who supported Biden, but may not be entirely comfortable. by placing Democrats. responsible for everything.
Voters are not thrilled.
“Emails, text messages, correspondents, names – please don’t talk to me anymore?” said Republican Senator Marty Harbin, who says even he is frustrated by the endless dam. “Everyone uses every device.”
Some went to social media to scream into emptiness.
“Save your money. I don’t need to mess with my mailbox, spam calls or emails anymore,” he said. one Georgia is a Twitter user.
“I can’t watch anything without being hit by political ads. I see, but I’m so tired.” tweeted another.
With roughly three-quarters of voters in the Atlanta media market, a handful of TV stations are already approaching saturation. Apparently, every commercial break from morning to night contains at least one political advertisement. Some are filled with four back-to-back campaign locations, playing as a miniature debate between rounds of “Wheel of Fortune.”
A Republican supporter, Loeffler, accuses Warnock of being anti-police, followed by a Warnock ad in which police say these attacks are false. A democratic super PAC ad then accuses Perdue of corruption, which is refuted by a GOP super PAC ad, saying Ossoff is a far-left tool.
Sky-reaching advertising is driven by stratospheric stakes. Rare situation – double barrel drains decide Senate control after a highly polarized election. Democrats must win both ranks to take over the Senate as Vice President Kamala Harris by a tie. Republicans only have to compete in one race under Senate control.
The two races “will determine the direction of our country for the next 50-100 years,” Perdue said on Monday in a shooting range at a campaign stop and stood in front of a bus decorated with four words: “Win Georgia. Save America.”
“I’m not saying it’s an exaggeration. This is the turning point we’re potentially at at the moment,” Perdue added, shooting in the distance. “If they get our two seats, it’ll be 50-50. And that means the tie will be the vice president. And so they’ll have the majority.”
Perdue did not mention Ossoff or Warnock in his remarks, but said progressive New York MP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wanted to buy a plane ticket to get down to Georgia to campaign for Democrat candidates.
Republicans see the Senate as a “last line of defense,” as Loeffler put it in a fundraising request, as Democrats could exercise full control over Washington next to Biden in the White House, with Senate Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. Senate if the Democrats win both terms.
“Our entire country can swing so far to the other side that we can never return to the side of Republicans,” said Carolyn Aycock, who came out to talk to Perdue on the shooting range. “I think this was the most important election vote ever.”
Republicans are warning that Democrats would abolish the Senate’s filibuster and add new, democratically-minded states to the union to win their majority. “We’re taking Georgia now, then we’re changing America!” as Schumer said in a clip broadcast several times in GOP commercials.
Nonetheless, in the other Senate elections, democratic disappointments mean the agenda is likely to hold for now, as if they win in Georgia, the party would have only the narrowest majority and their more conservative members, such as West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, said they do not support these changes.
Democrats disagree on the stakes of the races that will determine whether Biden has a friendly congress with which he can work with, from cabinet candidates to the new Covid-19 relief efforts.
“In previous elections, the argument that this is a life or death situation can be rejected as hyperbolic. This time it’s real,” said Nse Ufot, CEO of the New Georgia Project, a progressive group on voter registration, the Covid 19 epidemic. “It’s for the whole set and the caboodle. It belongs to the whole ball game.”
Alex Seitz-Wald from Georgia and Ben Kamisar from Washington DC
