Outside Money Heats Up Georgia’s 12th District Congressional Race

October 17th, 2012

An influx of outside money has raised the temperature of the 12^th Congressional District race. Republicans are working to unseat Rep. John Barrow, the last white Democratic Congressman from the Deep South. His opponent is Republican State Rep. Lee Anderson.

Barrow, who was first elected to Congress in 2004, is vulnerable because the state GOP used the redistricting process to remove Savannah, Barrow’s home town and a Democratic Party stronghold, from the district. The number of Republicans in the redesigned 12^th District went up by 11%. The Rothenberg Political Report called this “one of the most striking shifts in the country.” The change even forced Barrow to relocate his home address to Augusta in order to run. Now this race has attracted the attention of several outside groups, most notably Grover Norquist’s Washington-based Americans for Tax Reform.

Last week the anti-tax-increase group jumped into the race by announcing it was purchasing $496,000 in TV ads opposing Barrow. ATR had already spent $17,500 in a direct mail campaign trumpeting the fact that Anderson signed the group’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge, which opposes raising any taxes.

Barrow’s supporters have also been mounting their own campaign to help him hold onto the seat. In September an outside group called Center Forward began running TV ads in the district attacking Anderson. Center Forward is described by the New York Times as a low-profile Super PAC that supports centrist Blue Dog Democrats like Barrow.

The group ran attack ads accusing Anderson of preserving tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas by signing the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Norquist’s group called the ads false and said the charge had been debunked by Factcheck.org. ATR’s new ads accuse Barrow of supporting President Obama’s stimulus plan and of wanting to cut Medicare.

All of this takes money, of course. Campaign filings show that political parties and outside groups have already spent $2.7 million in the 12^th district. The National Republican Congressional Committee has spent $1.24 million, the largest outside group expenditure. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has spent $430,802 on Barrow’s behalf, about one-third of the GOP total. If ATR follows through they will end up spending over $760,000. That will make them the second largest source of outside money in the race after the NRCC.

And the candidates continue to spend money as well. According to their campaign filings, Barrow’s campaign had $1.19 million on hand at the end of September, while Anderson had only $117,059 (Anderson’s last financial report was dated August 1). Last week, House GOP Majority Leader Eric Cantor attended a fundraiser for Lee Anderson and other members of the Georgia GOP Congressional delegation, and House Speaker John Boehner attended a fundraiser for Anderson Monday evening in Augusta.