Abrams campaign in debt by more than $1 million after losing again to Kemp

The campaign for Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is more than $1 million in debt following her second unsuccessful bid for the state's top job.

Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp decisively won reelection against two-time opponent Abrams, significantly widening his margin of victory in 2022 after a close race in 2018.

Though her campaign raised a substantial $100 million to unseat the Republican, it now stands in debt and things became so tight financially that most of the 180 full-time employees of the campaign were given a "paycheck cutoff date — just a week after the November election," according to Axios.

Campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo told the outlet that the campaign will struggle to address its financial obligations for the foreseeable future.

"We did not just lose, we got blown out. It was the most sub-optimal situation to be in. And we will be dealing with that situation for some time," she said. "We tried to do the best we could to make sure that help would be there for folks."

At least one former staffer relayed concerns to Axios from Abrams' campaign employees about paying their expenses going forward.

Abrams has long been hailed among Democrats as a fundraising guru, though much of her campaign war chest came from out-of-state donations this cycle, suggesting that her appeal as a national figure among Democrats was not indicative of favorability in her home state.

The candidate herself, however, appears to be on solid financial footing as she has accumulated a $3 million personal net worth and raised further millions through her voting rights group, which has long campaigned off the claim that voter suppression swayed the outcome of her 2018 campaign.