Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) needs your help to keep the U.S. Senate in Republican hands. So blow up a handful of Facebook ads that Cruz’s campaign committee bought this month. But none of them actually raised money for the Republican candidates in Georgia. Instead, every penny donated went directly to … Cruz.
The Cruz campaign has garnered 15 separate ads on Facebook over the past two weeks, each featuring a video of the senator dramatically addressing the need for two U.S. Senate seats in Georgia’s runoff games.
‘Gun seizures, tax increases, open borders and stacking of the Supreme Court. “This is the radical Democratic agenda if they win the Senate election in Georgia,” Cruz said.
He asked for $ 5 contributions for his new ‘Keep Georgia Red Fund’. But Facebook users who went through the online donation page – and read the fine print at the bottom – would see that the real beneficiary was Cruz’s own campaign committee, not sens Kelly Loeffler or David Perdue, the two Republicans eligible for re-election in Georgia.
Cruz is just one of a number of elected officials from both parties who are using the competitive – and extremely expensive – runoff games in Georgia to raise money for themselves. These officials are increasingly doing so on Facebook, where a political advertising ban imposed in late October was lifted this month, but only for ads in Georgia.
This led to a flurry of Facebook ads calling for Senate contests in the state on behalf of political candidates outside the state. On some occasions, the run-off contests are not even mentioned in the ads, but are aimed at users in Georgia in an effort to take advantage of Facebook’s state-specific political advertising policies.
Facebook did not respond to questions about the apparent void. But the efforts of Cruz and others illustrate the difficulties the company has had in drawing up a policy of advertising policy that is not too restrictive or too easily exploited.
The advertising ban of the social media giant, which is intended to limit misinformation regarding the outcome of the presidential election, closed a giant political fundraising tool temporarily and after the election. When the company eased the ban on advertising in Georgia this month, campaigns got the chance to get back into the Facebook advertising game. Last month, the National Republican Senatorial Committee encouraged its members to use the grassroots donor enthusiasm around the runoff to help build their own fundraising programs.
Senate leader Mitch McConnell led the way to his caucus. His campaign has sent some text messages and displaying Google ads targeting Georgia that link to a page on the GOP fundraising platform WinRed, which says donations will benefit McConnell’s own campaign committee.
According to a source familiar with the arrangement, McConnell’s focused fundraising efforts in Georgia actually covered the cost of using his massive email and text lists to solicit donations split between the senator and the two Republican Senate candidates. in Georgia. A McConnell spokesman said his post-election fundraising efforts, subsidized by his direct fundraiser in Georgia, raised more than $ 3.4 million for Loeffler and Perdue.
These split fundraising efforts are an important mechanism to advance the financial support of Senate candidates in Georgia, according to guidelines published by WinRed. Some members of Congress have taken advantage of the strategy. Rep. For example, Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-WA) and Ashley Hinson (R-IA) both bought Facebook ads this month that link to split donation pages the proceeds evenly between their own campaign committees and those of Perdue and Loeffler.
However, many continue to simply make donations to their own campaigns or political vehicles. And it’s not just Republicans who are acting. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), for example, presented several Facebook ads this month with urgent pleas to financially support the Democratic Senate candidates in Georgia.
“If you want to take back the Senate and retire Mitch McConnell, the most important thing you can do at the moment is to donate to elect Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in Georgia,” the ads read. The ads link to a donation page stating that the funds do not go to Ossoff or Warnock, but to Gillibrand’s political action committee, Off the Slines PAC.
Gillibrand’s PAC largely consists of sending funds to other Democratic candidates, so it’s not inconceivable that the money raised through the ads will support the Democrats in Georgia. The PAC did indeed donate to both Ossoff and Warnock before the general election. But by law, it could only give $ 5,000 before the run-off game in January, probably less than the PAC raises by appealing to the Peach State Senate competitions.
Then there are those who try to raise money from all the political activities in Georgia, without pretending to care about the run-off.
Elected Congressman Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) last week purchased a handful of Facebook ads promising to use his new post in a fruitless and conspiratorial attempt to nullify the 2020 presidential election. “Donate below to join the fight and help save our American way of life!” it read. An additional five Cawthorn ads asked people to “defend freedom and defend Georgia!” But like everyone else, they linked to Cawthorn’s own donation page. Cawthorn will only be sworn in this weekend.
President Donald Trump himself led the use of Senate competitions in Georgia to raise money for his own political efforts. His political team has been buying Google ads for weeks and sending out fundraising emails to address the urgent need to hold the majority of the IDP Senate, asking for contributions to its own political groups. But the fine print of the requests makes it clear that much of the change goes to Trump’s own committee and a smaller part to the Republican National Committee.
The tactic has spread even wider since Facebook opened its political ads for careers in Georgia. Like Lee, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) this month presented a number of ads soliciting donations on behalf of his Republican colleagues Loeffler and Perdue.
“Democrats, with their radical agenda, want to destroy our country. The center of the struggle is now in Georgia. We have to keep the Senate, ”declared ten Facebook ads hosted by the Lee campaign this month. “Take part in the battle by seeing what you can do.”
Ten Lee campaign ads are being presented this month, linked to the senator’s WinRed page. His office insists the money find its way to the upcoming matches.
“Sen. Lee’s multiple Facebook campaigns have raised tens of thousands of dollars for Georgia’s runoff candidates, ‘a Lee spokesman said in an email. “Some of the campaigns gave donors the opportunity to donate to Sen. Lee, but less than $ 100 was raised this way.”
But the language on the WinRed page promoted in Lee’s recent Facebook ads is pretty clear: “Your contribution will benefit Mike Lee’s friends.”