(Ezekiel Loseke, Headline USA) Democrat Stacey Abrams’ campaign, despite raising millions, is in massive debt after losing her second consecutive gubernatorial bid.
Abrams’ campaign raised over $100 million but currently owes more than $1 million to vendors, as confirmed by her two-time campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo, according to Axios.
Money was so tight that almost all of Abrams’ 180 permanent staffers received an abrupt cutoff date for their pay and benefits a week after the election. One former staffer expressed surprise that the fundraising money didn’t result in a more generous severance package.
“I figured, $100 million? They should be able to pay me until December,” the staffer said.
Another former staffer explained that Abrams’ fiscal irresponsibility created chaos in the personal life of her former staff.
“People have told me they have no idea how they’re going to pay their rent in January,” the anonymous staffer said. “It was more than unfortunate. It was messed up.”
Abrams’ spending problems are chronic, as her campaign also went broke in the 2018 primary, according to Georgiapol.
A Georgia Democrat operative, Chris Huttman, said people should have seen Abrams’ bankruptcy coming.
Her campaign’s boom and bust cycle is a “well-documented pattern,” he said.
“[in 2018] she was running a campaign where there’s always been more money in the future that can fix the mistakes of the past.”
In 2022, Abrams was handicapped at the end of the race, according to her campaign manager. As her opponent, Brian Kemp, ramped up spending, she had to cut expenditures.
A “cavalcade of negative press and negative polling” destroyed Abram’s capacity to raise money, she said.
“We did not just lose, we got blown out,” she said. “It was the most sub-optimal situation to be in. And we will be dealing with that situation for some time.”
The campaign manager reported desperately trying to save Abrams’ finances.
“I was trimming everything we could,” she said.
The campaign even sold its donor and voter contacts to try and pay down its debt.
What Abrams plans to do to pay back her $1 million debt is unclear.
