Nonprofit started by Stacy Abrams to pay $300K fine, largest for violating GA campaign finance laws

A nonprofit founded by former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams agreed on Wednesday to pay a record $300,000 fine for violating state campaign finance laws.

The Georgia Ethics Commission voted unanimously to impose the fine after it found that the nonprofit New Georgia Project, and the related New Georgia Project Action Fund, did not disclose its campaign contributions to Abrams' candidacy for governor in 2018 despite advocating for her, NBC News reported.

Abrams, who founded the New Georgia Project in 2013, lost the election to Georgia GOP Gov. Brian Kemp. 

"This certainly represents the largest fine in the history of Georgia's Ethics Commission, but also appears to be the largest Ethics Fine ever imposed by any State Ethics Commission in the country related to an election and campaign finance case," the commission wrote in a statement.

The groups failed to report that they donated $4.2 million during the 2018 election and $3.2 million to boost Abrams and other statewide candidates during the primaries and general election.

"These expenditures included, but were not limited to, canvassing activities, literature expressly advocating for the election of candidates, social media engagement, and operating field offices with paid staff where those electioneering activities were organized," the consent agreement read.

The commission also found that the groups failed to register to the ethics commission as political committees in 2017 and 2018, which is required by state law.

Aria Branch, an attorney for the groups, said her clients were "glad to finally put this matter behind us."

"While we remain disappointed that the federal court ruling on the constitutionality of the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Act was overturned on entirely procedural grounds, we accept this outcome and are eager to turn the page on activities that took place more than five years ago," Branch told the outlet.

A spokesperson for Abrams told the New York Times that the Georgian had not worked for the company since 2017, but did not comment further. 

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.