The Democratic Party of Georgia attempted to purchase airtime in the Atlanta media market to run campaign ads on behalf of gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
There’s just one problem. (The Daily Caller)
Abrams and the Democratic Party attempted to buy a $250,000 advertisement on Atlanta-based WSB-TV in order to promote a gubernatorial runoff despite her Republican challenger, Secretary of State Brian Kemp, winning over 50 percent of the vote. In the state of Georgia, a runoff is only triggered if neither candidate reaches at least half of the total votes.
The ad request, which was reportedly approved by Abrams and would have been paid for through her campaign funds, may have violated campaign finance laws since a runoff election has not been declared and is thereby not a sanctioned election.
“Stacey Abrams’ ambitions of getting a TV talk show or running for office again as an aggrieved member of our victim culture are leading her to make reckless and illegal decisions,” said John Watson, chairman of the Georgia GOP. “Her actions are harmful to Georgians who want to come together and work for the future. She is putting herself above the will of Georgians and is damaging to our state.”
Abrams’ campaign argued that they believe there will be enough votes to ultimately trigger a runoff.
WSB-TV rejected the ad offhand, declaring that the station, “is not accepting any political ads until the vote is certified by the state and runoffs are official.”