FIRST ON FOX: A Georgia Republican congressman accused GOP groups of trying to “capture data and donors for themselves” with their lopsided fundraising emails supporting Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker.
Walker is headed into a contentious runoff against incumbent Democrat Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, this time without newly re-elected Governor Brian Kemp on the ballot to help with turnout.
Ahead of the runoff, several Republican political action committees (PACs) have sent joint fundraising emails to raise money for Walker as he looks to flip the blue seat.
Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., told Fox News Digital that people who want to see the Senate seat flip red should give directly to Walker’s campaign.
(Photo courtesy of Rep. Scott’s office)
However, these emails from former President Trump’s Save America PAC, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), and others have fine print that shows Walker’s campaign getting a very small fraction of the donations.
Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., told Fox News Digital that people who want to see the Senate seat flip red should give directly to Walker’s campaign while accusing the other organizations of using the race to get “data and donors” for their own use.
“People who want Herschel to win should give directly to Team Herschel,” Scott said. “These other organizations are using this race to capture data and donors for themselves, while Democrats are sending hundreds of millions to Warnock.”
The Save America PAC sent out a fundraising email last weekend where 90 percent of funds raised from its contributions appeared to go to the PAC itself, with Walker’s campaign only getting 10 percent of the small-donor contributions.
Donors were able to adjust the amounts going to Trump’s PAC and Walker’s campaign manually, but the automatic, pre-selected setting came at a 90/10 split.
Save America PAC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
After the news broke, the Save America PAC changed the fundraising email to be a 50/50 split with Walker’s campaign.
Last month ahead of Election Day, Walker’s campaign counsel Stefan Passantino sent a cease and desist letter to the Run Herschel Run PAC, threatening to go to federal officials to “disavow your activities and take any and all additional legal action necessary” to guard the candidate’s rights.
“This is a scam PAC, which Herschel Walker has nothing to do with,” Walker campaign manager Scott Paradise told local press in October. “We encourage any individual who feels they might have been misled to reach out and request a contribution refund.”
Run Herschel Run PAC consultant Jeremy Brand told local press last month the PAC was founded to spark a pro-Walker voter turnout in the event of a runoff.
“Thanks to the generosity of many conservative business leaders,” he said. “We will have the resources and game plan needed to help get Herschel across the goal line to victory.”
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker will face incumbent Democrat Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia in a December runoff election.
(Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
The NRSC also took heat for sending out a similar fundraising email with a larger split that saw 99 percent of each contribution go to the committee.
NRSC spokesman Chris Hartline told Fox News Digital that the “NRSC is working closely with Team Herschel on all fundraising.”
“We’re raising money into a [Joint Fundraising Committee] that primarily benefits Team Herschel, and any money raised into the building is being spent in Georgia to support Herschel,” Hartline said.
A Walker campaign spokesperson also told reporters on Tuesday that the NRSC fundraising is different because the committee is fully behind the campaign and only spending money on-air right now.
Senate Leadership Fund CEO Steven Law blasted the NRSC online, tweeting that good “committees raise enough so that they don’t have to steal from their candidates.”
The Senate Leadership Fund is aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who fended off a GOP leadership challenge from Florida Senator Rick Scott, who runs the NRSC.
Walker’s campaign has taken a hard stance against the PACs’ fundraising emails using the Georgia football star’s candidacy, calling out the groups for taking money away from Georgia during a contentious runoff.
“We need everyone focused on winning the Georgia Senate race, and deceptive fundraising tactics by teams that just won their races are siphoning money away from Georgia,” Paradise said on Monday.
“The companies and consultants raising money off this need to cut it out,” he added.
Walker’s race went to a runoff after a tight race against Warnock that came to a head earlier this month.
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The Georgia Republican’s race will be harder going into the runoff, as other major Georgia GOP politicians like Kemp aren’t on the ballot this time.
If Walker wins, the Senate will remain at status quo, tied with Vice President Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking vote towing chamber control for the Democrats.
