Spending on potential runoff elections for Georgia’s two US Senate seats — which could decide control of the chamber — will likely exceed $200 million and shatter records, according to a report.
Republicans plan to pour at least $100 million into efforts to return GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler to the Capitol, CNBC said.
The prediction came from a Republican strategist who’s familiar with the plans and who also said Democrats were expected to spend a similar amount on behalf of challenger Raphael Warnock, CNBC reported.
Loeffler and Warnock, pastor of Atlanta’s famed Ebenezer Baptist Church, are projected to face off Jan. 5 after neither won at least 50 percent of the votes in the Peach State’s “jungle primary” special election on Tuesday.
Georgia’s other Senate race — between freshman Republican Sen. David Perdue and Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff — has yet to be declared.
But Perdue’s unofficial lead slipped below 50% on Thursday and was at 49.84% on Friday, with 98% of the vote counted, according to reports.
Under Georgia law, a candidate must capture at least 50 percent of the vote to win an election or face a runoff against the second-place finisher.
Democratic fundraiser Charles Myers, a former vice chairman of the Evercore independent investment bank, predicted that the Perdue-Ossoff race would also result in a Jan. 5 runoff — and record-setting campaign expenditures.
“There will be more money spent on both sides than in any Senate races in history,” Myers told CNBC.
Tuesday’s elections left the incoming Senate split 48-48, with races in North Carolina and Alaska also undecided, according to projections by Fox News.
Republicans now control the Senate 53-47, meaning Democrats need to win three more seats to tip the balance of power unless Joe Biden beats President Trump.
A Biden victory would allow running mate Kamala Harris to break any 50-50 ties in the Senate, reducing the number of seats Democrats need to just two.