Op-Ed Cobb Voice Contributor
One of the most notorious political grifts in Georgia history has finally shut down. The New Georgia Project, founded by serial candidate Stacey Abrams and once hailed as a voter engagement juggernaut, has officially dissolved.
And not a moment too soon.
From its earliest days, the New Georgia Project was little more than a political ATM for Abrams and her allies. On paper, it claimed to “build long-term power in Georgia.” In practice, it built long-term wealth for Abrams and helped finance her failed gubernatorial campaigns.
“After more than a decade of advancing civic engagement, equity, and justice across Georgia,” the group’s board said Thursday, “The New Georgia Project and its Action Fund will officially dissolve.”
But here’s what they didn’t mention: after Stacey Abrams stepped away from the organization shortly after its founding, leadership was handed over to none other than Raphael Warnock in 2017, who now represents Georgia in the U.S. Senate. That’s right, before he ran for Senate, Warnock ran this same corrupt machine.
What followed under his watch would trigger investigations, a record-breaking ethics fine, and the eventual collapse of the entire operation.
$4.2 Million in Undisclosed Political Cash
Earlier this year, the Georgia State Ethics Commission dropped the hammer.
The commission unanimously voted to fine the New Georgia Project a staggering $300,000, the largest ethics penalty in Georgia’s history, after the group admitted to raising millions for Abrams’ political ambitions without registering as an independent political committee. That’s not just unethical—it’s illegal.
According to reporting, the New Georgia Project and its super PAC committed 16 separate violations, funneling untraceable cash into Abrams’ 2018 run and other Democrat causes.
The ethics commission found the group failed to disclose over $4.2 million in political spending, money that should’ve been reported to the public. In just one campaign, they neglected to report $646,000 in donations and another $173,000 in expenses.
David Emadi, Executive Secretary of the Georgia State Ethics Commission, didn’t mince words:
“This clearly represents the largest, most significant instance of an organization illegally influencing our elections in Georgia at a statewide level that we’ve ever uncovered.”
From Nonprofit to Democrat SuperPAC—Behind a Mask
What made this so egregious wasn’t just the money, it was the disguise. The New Georgia Project operated as a “nonpartisan nonprofit,” while in reality, it was a full-blown political operation for the Left.
Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation said: “This was an advocacy organization that was masquerading as a nonpartisan nonprofit… It’s a good thing for the people of Georgia, whether they’re liberals or conservatives, that this corrupt group is shut down.”
The group targeted black and Hispanic voters with campaign ads and mailers pushing Abrams. In 2018, the New Georgia Project ran what ethics officials called a “robust” door-to-door operation to boost turnout, for Democrats only. By late October that year, they had field offices operating across Georgia.
In short, the New Georgia Project was never about “empowering voters.” It was about empowering one side of the aisle, and profiting from it.
Warnock’s Role and the Aftermath
While Stacey Abrams may have founded the New Georgia Project in 2013 under her corporate entity Third Sector Development, it’s worth remembering who took the reins after she left.
Raphael Warnock, now Georgia’s U.S. Senator, served as chairman of the board of the New Georgia Project from 2017 to 2020. Yes, the same Raphael Warnock who now lectures the country from Capitol Hill ran the very organization that racked up the most serious campaign finance violations in the state’s history between 2018 and 2019, while Warnock was leading the organization.
Warnock’s statement: Following the fine, Warnock told The New York Times that “compliance decisions were not a part” of his work while leading the group.
Let that sink in.
Abrams may have gotten the ball rolling, but it was Warnock’s era that saw the group spiral into a vortex of corruption, fines, and finally, dissolution.
The Final Nail?
There’s more fallout coming for Abrams.
A Georgia Senate committee is now investigating whether Abrams’ group misused federal COVID relief funds, adding another layer of scandal to the wreckage. That same committee is also digging into Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who, you’ll recall, is currently leading the politically motivated prosecution of President Donald Trump.
But for Stacey Abrams, the show is over. Her credibility? Gone. Her political machine? Dissolved. And her career? Dead on arrival. No more grift. No more games. No more Abrams.
Hans von Spakovsky put it plainly: “This is the last nail in the coffin for her political career… She’ll have to go back to writing romance novels.”
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp’s office put it best: “Georgians everywhere can rest easy tonight knowing that there is one less way for Stacey Abrams to fleece people and get rich.”
