Stacey Abrams-founded group fined for 2018 campaign violations

A nonprofit voter registration organization founded by two-time Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has agreed to pay the largest fine ever assessed by the Georgia Ethics Commission.

The commission's board voted Wednesday to approve a consent order calling for New Georgia Project and a separate fundraising arm to pay $300,000 for failing to disclose $4.2 million in contributions and $3.2 million in spending during the 2018 election cycle on behalf of Abrams' unsuccessful bid for governor.

New Georgia Project's activities included voter canvassing, campaign literature, social media engagement, and operations of field offices. Failing to disclose the contributions and spending listed in the consent order violated the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Act.

“While this fine is significant in scale, it is also appropriate given the scope of which state law was violated in this case,” David Emadi, the commission's executive secretary, told Politico Wednesday.

“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.”

New Georgia Project also admitted failing to report nearly $650,000 in donations and almost $175,000 in expenditures related to a 2019 transit referendum in Gwinnett County. Voters defeated the referendum, which called for Gwinnett to join MARTA.

Abrams, a Democrat, lost the 2018 governor's race to Republican Brian Kemp, and was defeated again by Kemp in 2022.