Politics

Stacey Abrams-founded group settles case over illegal support for her campaign

Published

1 year ago

January 15, 2025

A nonprofit founded by perennial candidate Stacey Abrams has settled a complaint with the Georgia Ethics Commission and will pay $300,000 to the state for illegally spending millions to bolster Abrams’ gubernatorial bid in 2018.

According to the consent order, which was made public on Wednesday following the ethics commission’s vote to approve it, the New Georgia Project and its fundraising arm, the New Georgia Project Action Fund, failed to disclose roughly $4.2 million in contributions and $3.2 million in expenditures that were used mostly to support Abrams during the 2018 primary and general election.

The order details 16 violations of state law, including the group’s failure to register as a political committee, failure to file a number of required disclosure reports, and failure to disclose millions of dollars in political contributions and expenditures. By agreeing to the consent order and by paying the $300,000 penalty, the New Georgia Project admits it broke the law, according to the order.

The consent order also details New Georgia Project’s involvement advocating for a ballot initiative in 2019 that would have expanded public transportation. That violation included more than $600,000 in contributions and $173,000 in expenditures.

David Emadi, executive director of Georgia’s ethics commission, said in a statement that the fine is the largest ever imposed by the commission and may be the largest fine by a state ethics board in a campaign finance case ever.

“While this fine is significant in scale, it is also appropriate given the scope of which state law was violated in this case,” Emadi said. “This represents the largest and most significant instance of an organization illegally influencing our statewide elections in Georgia that we have ever discovered, and I believe this sends a clear message to both the public and potential bad actors moving forward that we will hold you accountable.”

David Fox, who represented New Georgia Project at the hearing, said the agreement was a “reasonable resolution” for something that took place years ago, adding that the group is “eager to move forward.”

During the ethics commission’s meeting on Wednesday, Emadi presented social media posts, checks, canvassing and phone banking information as evidence of New Georgia Project’s and the action fund’s work to bolster Abrams in 2018. The presentation also showed routine overlap between the two groups.

The board unanimously approved the consent order.

The agreement brings to a close a yearslong investigation into the group’s activity dating back to 2019 that went to court a number of times. The ethics commission subpoenaed for the group’s bank records and revised its complaint in 2022 after the Georgia Court of Appeals approved access to the statements.

In another case, the New Georgia Project sought to block the ethics board’s probe, but in July 2024 the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals threw out a district court ruling that had initially halted the investigation.

A 2023 POLITICO investigation found the group’s former executive director — Nsé Ufot — owes the organization thousands of dollars in “non-work-related” reimbursements.

Abrams founded the New Georgia Project in 2014 as an offshoot of another nonprofit called Third Sector Development. Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock chaired the organization for more than two years, from when it first became an independent 501(c)3 in 2017 to January of 2020.

A spokesperson for Abrams did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Politics

Trump is delaying Texas Senate endorsement to pressure GOP senators on SAVE America Act

Published

9 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump is delaying his endorsement in the Texas Senate GOP primary to ramp up pressure on Republican senators to pass his high-priority voting restrictions bill, according to two people close to the White House granted anonymity to speak candidly.

Trump had been prepared to quickly endorse John Cornyn after the Texas senator outperformed expectations and finished ahead of Paxton, Texas’ attorney general, in last week’s primary, the people said. But Paxton managed to at least forestall that outcome when he announced Friday that if the Senate passes the bill he would drop his campaign.

Paxton’s last-ditch gamble highlighted an area where he agrees with Trump while poking at a sore spot between the president and Senate Republican leaders who have been begging Trump for months to back Cornyn. And it changed the dynamics inside the White House, according to the two people, an operative close to the White House and an administration ally.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

“I think that was a very smart strategy because it bought time. Because now, if you’re the White House or Trump, why would you now weigh in?’’ said the Republican operative. “Trump has remained very steadfast that he wants this done, and that is a huge priority, and he’s getting pissed off at these members and at [Senate Majority Leader John] Thune.”

Trump posted last Wednesday, the day after the primary, that he would endorse “soon” in the race — and wanted to see whoever he didn’t back drop out of the runoff.

He told House Republicans Monday in a speech at their annual legislative retreat in Florida that SAVE America is his “No. 1 priority” on the congressional agenda this year

Paxton, a favorite of the far right with strong MAGA grassroots backing, initially said he would not end his campaign even if Trump backed Cornyn. Trump responded in an interview with Blue Light News last week that the comment was “bad for him to say,” and reiterated he would announce his pick soon.

But Paxton soon came up with an offer: He would step aside if the Senate moved the voting restrictions bill that passed the House but has stalled in the Senate. Republicans lack the necessary 60 votes to break the filibuster to pass the bill and don’t have the bare majority needed to alter Senate rules. Cornyn has long been one of the Republicans who hasn’t supported ending the filibuster but has said he backs the SAVE America Act.

Paxton’s gambit caught the attention of the president, who on Monday declared the SAVE America Act should be the GOP’s “No. 1 priority” during a speech to House Republicans in which he dedicated 13 minutes to the issue.

The president also was irritated when news articles from Axios and The Atlantic published Wednesday declaring that Trump was “expected” to endorse Cornyn, according to the Republican operative. A Blue Light News story stated earlier that morning that Trump would likely endorse soon, with a source predicting he wouldn’t back Paxton. Trump and others in his orbit hate when stories get out ahead of official announcements.

The move paid off for Paxton by giving his allies more time to voice their displeasure to the White House at the possibility that Trump would be swayed by pro-Cornyn establishment Republicans in Washington.

That pressure campaign has ramped up in recent days since reports surfaced Trump was close to backing Cornyn. The administration ally said Paxton’s allies are mounting a “big counter-offensive.”

Those pushing against a Cornyn endorsement include Texas donors, according to a Paxton campaign aide.

“The grassroots donor community in Texas did not believe or realize how close Trump was endorsing Cornyn,” said a Paxton campaign aide, granted anonymity in order to speak freely. “Once they realized that the threat was real, they went very hard in the paint.”

A Cornyn campaign aide declined to comment.

While donors work the White House behind the scenes, Paxton also has allies making their case online like conservative influencers Laura Loomer, Jack Posobiec and Caroline Wren, who have blasted Cornyn and touted Paxton. They have warned that a Trump endorsement for Cornyn would mark a betrayal to the MAGA base.

“The Republican establishment is just as guilty as controlled opposition in the destruction of this republic, and exhibit one is John Cornyn,” Steve Bannon, longtime MAGA whisperer, said on Monday on his latest War Room podcast.

Cornyn and his allies have scrambled to respond. On Saturday, Cornyn posted on X, while tagging Trump’s account, that he had supported the SAVE America Act “from day one.” Cornyn declared he “will happily support the ‘talking filibuster’ if that’s what it takes to pass this into law” — a shift from the skepticism he voiced about the feasibility of the talking filibuster just a few weeks ago. He got backup from other Republicans — including from Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a MAGA ally who is leading the charge for the bill in the Senate, who vouched for Cornyn’s support.

But on Monday, Thune poured cold water on Trump’s hopes once again, stating that formally nuking the legislative filibuster is “not going to happen” and arguing that a talking filibuster without forcing through a rules change is “way more complicated” than people realize.

Cornyn’s supporters believe he still remains in a strong position to receive the president’s backing, especially since Democrats nominated state Rep. James Talarico, a pick that even Republicans say is a formidable general election candidate. Many national Republicans say putting forward Paxton would be an expensive endeavor that would risk the seat and could cost them the Senate, as his past ethics issues and personal scandals make him a vulnerable candidate.