A top Republican in the Georgia governor's race is suing his rival over campaign financing
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr sued Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in federal court in Atlanta, asking a judge to permanently cut off Jones' ability to spend money from Jones' leadership committee, a special fundraising vehicle that allows Georgia's governor, lieutenant governor and legislative leaders to raise unlimited funds.
Jones and Carr are among the candidates competing for the Republican nomination to succeed term-limited Gov. Brian Kemp. The GOP primary is next May, followed by the November 2026 general election, which is expected to be one of the most expensive gubernatorial races in the country.
Carr argues that the leadership committee violates Carr's First Amendment right to free speech as well as his 14th Amendment right to equal protection by setting up a campaign finance structure that favors Jones and limits how much Carr can spend on his campaign. The 2021 state law that created leadership committees doesn't grant Carr or other candidates access to the fundraising vehicle. Instead, Carr only has a regular campaign committee which is limited to raising $8,400 from each donor for his primary campaign, as well as $4,200 for any primary runoff.
Carr spokesperson Julia Mazzone said Jones 'is using his position to sidestep contribution limits, raise six-figure checks during legislative sessions and funnel unlimited money into a competitive primary through a structure only he can access.'
Jones' campaign spokesperson Kendyl Parker called Carr a hypocrite because his office in 2022 defended the same law he is now challenging. Carr's position has been that the attorney general is obligated to defend challenged laws even if he personally disagrees with them. Parker did not address the substance of Carr's lawsuit.
Carr announced his run for governor last year, saying he needed longer to raise money because he isn't personally wealthy. Carr's campaign has been voicing concerns for months that Jones will use his leadership committee and family wealth to win the primary. The Carr campaign tried to get the state Ethics Commission to investigate the source of a $10 million loan that Jones made to his leadership committee, but the commission declined, saying Carr failed to allege a legal violation.
Carr's campaign cited a 2022 federal judge's ruling that a leadership committee for Kemp could not spend money to get Kemp reelected during the Republican primary that year. U.S. District Judge Mark Cohen found that the 'unequal campaign finance scheme' violated challenger David Perdue's First Amendment right to free speech.
But Carr wants much more extensive restrictions on Jones' leadership committee than Cohen ordered. Cohen let Kemp keep raising money for the leadership committee, just saying Kemp couldn't spend it against Perdue. But Carr wants a judge to cut off both fundraising and spending until the primary is over.
He also asks that a federal magistrate judge be appointed to oversee all spending by the committee and that Jones' regular campaign committee repay any money already spent by the leadership committee to support Jones. Carr asks the court to block Jones from giving any cash to dark money groups and making any loans to his regular campaign committee during the primary, and wants the magistrate judge to investigate where Jones' $10 million loan came from. Carr has pointed to a 2022 financial disclosure that showed Jones didn't have enough liquid assets to loan his campaign that much.
Carr's campaign continues to voice concern that Jones could raise unlimited sums to repay his loan and then give the repaid money to his candidate committee to spend in the primary, warning that such laundering would destroy campaign contribution limits.
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