Price PAC Prepares to Support Gold Dome GOP Candidates
This election cycle, the PAC will spend $100,000 in support of 11 Republican incumbents and two candidates for seats presently held by Democrats, all from the metro Atlanta area. Two mailings are planned for each candidate. The first round will emphasize the conservative credentials of the candidates, and will be directed at solid Republicans who may be disappointed with Donald Trump at the top of the GOP ticket. According to a spokesman for the PAC, the mailing will target Marco Rubio voters, urging them to turn out for down ballot Republican candidates. A second round of mailings will target independents and those who lean Republican, and will try to ensure that those voters have a favorable view of the candidates. A wave of robocalls is planned as well.
The Senate races being targeted are those of Hunter Hill, Fran Millar, and JaNice Van Ness. The targeted House races are those of incumbents Beth Beskin, Buzz Brockway, Joyce Chandler, Valerie Clark, Rich Golick, Dale Rutledge, Brian Strickland, and Sam Teasley. In addition, the committee will support Meagan Hanson, who is challenging the Brookhaven seat of Taylor Bennett, and Lane Flynn, who hopes to unseat Scott Holcomb of Doraville. The committee sent along the first round mailers for Hansen and Hill.
The $100,000 in SuperPAC spending comes on the heels of Price’s almost $73,000 in contributions earlier this year to state Republicans with primary challenges. Although the PAC’s latest disclosure report shows no contributions through the end of September, the spokesman told us that the PAC is completely funded by Price’s campaign committee.
Congressman Price has been a strong supporter of Donald Trump for president. Given that one of the committee’s goals is to turn out voters who may be discouraged by having Donald Trump at the top of the ticket, we asked his spokesman about the possible discrepancy. The spokesman pointed out that Price has contributed $1.2 million to the NRCC, and is interested in supporting all state and federal Republican candidates.
Asked whether the campaign committee and its donations might be related to a possible run for Governor in 2018, the spokesman wouldn’t bite. Congressman Price, we were told, is focused on this November, not some future election.
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Jon Richards
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Price purchasing support for a run for Governor, eh?
Cagle withdrew from the race in 2010. Olens leaving for KSU is a two-fer. Deal also gets to appoint the AG.
And Westmoreland is likely in the mix.
Focused on this November—until November 8 anyway. Then the 2018 race (for governor) unofficially begins on Wednesday, November 9. Dave, I’m not sure Westmoreland will be in the mix—-he is 66 now and may want to enjoy some time off after 24 years in office—but one story is that he won’t run if, say, Tom Graves of the 14th District runs for that post. Certainly by next May, we’ll have some announcements, given the need to raise probably tens of millions of dollars for a primary, possible runoff and general election. As for Price, being House budget chairman under (as of now) a likely Clinton Administration can’t be something to look forward to, especially with a likely reduced House GOP majority next January, and the 6th District, easily Georgia’s wealthiest congressional district, is a good base from which to run statewide.
Also, rumors thru the grapevine have Clinton polling well in traditionally GOP districts like Hunter Hill’s in Buckhead/Smyrna and Taylor Bennett’s in Brookhaven/Sandy Springs. Even in Tom Price’s 6th CD, Trump/Clinton will likely be closer than Romney/Obama was in 2012. Hence, no wonder some focus on getting ticket-splitters.
I recently read an interesting analysis based on in-depth polling that linked birthplace and current residency to Trump or Clinton support. The analysis determined there was a significant correlation between Trump support and current residents that were state natives than would otherwise be expected for that state, and likewise support for Clinton from current residents that were natives of other states than would otherwise be expected for that state. There were a few outliers of course. I had not put any stock in Clinton being competitive in Georgia (my definition of competitive being north of 46%), but if the correlation of non-native residents and support for Clinton were true perhaps Georgia would be competitive, Georgia being a state with a relatively high fraction of non-native residents.