WASHINGTON – Super PACs spent nearly $16 million more on Sen. Raphael Warnock than his Republican challenger Herschel Walker so far in the run-up to their high-stakes runoff election in Georgia on Tuesday.
Here are some takeaways from how the top super PACs are influencing the race:
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Three super PACs – Georgia Honor, American Bridge and VoteVets, a progressive veterans group – have spent more than $24.6 million in opposition to Walker.
Meanwhile, the Senate Leadership Fund, Americans for Prosperity Action, 34N22, a pro-Walker PAC, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee spent nearly $21.8 million in opposition to Warnock.
The super PACs are mostly spending money on TV ads, digital and online communications and on-the-ground canvassing.
Andra Gillespie, a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta, said that Warnock could be seeing more support because he is an incumbent, and because he has essentially been campaigning since he was first elected, not necessarily because he’s going to win.
“I wouldn’t trace any future Warnock victory to this spending,” she said. “This is a highly competitive race and there are people who care about the stakes of the election.”
Gillespie also pointed to Walker being a weak candidate, due to allegations he paid for an ex-girlfriend’s abortions.
“I think some people are speaking with their dollars in terms of sort of a recognition of the weaknesses and the challenges he faces as a candidate and a reluctance to invest money in his candidacy,” she said.
Charles Bullock, a longtime political scientist at the University of Georgia, said spending millions of dollars on digital ads retelling Walker’s abortion allegations isn’t new for Georgia voters who have made it through the general election.
But Bullock said for some voters, Walker’s scandals could persuade them to vote for Warnock.
“Perhaps a finely tuned message that you then direct at a specific component of the electorate might then be the element that prompts some of those recipients to say, ‘Gee, I hadn’t planned to vote, but now that I’ve heard this, I think I will go and vote,’” Bullock said.