The National Republican Senatorial Committee released a memo Wednesday night outlining its strategy to support Georgia U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker as he continues campaigning for a Dec. 6 runoff against incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock.
The memo outlines strategy for fundraising, paid media, and ground game.
“In this General Election, the NRSC spent $14 million in Georgia, with the vast majority of that money funding hybrid ads with Team Herschel, purchased at the lowest possible unit rate for candidates,” the memo reads. “It’s crucial that we raise the resources to stay on television.”
The memo, signed by NRSC Chair Rick Scott and Walker, asks NRSC donors, supporters and the Republican Senate Caucus to donate and help fundraise to the Georgia Victory Committee. The joint fundraising committee will support Walker, the Georgia Republican Party and the NRSC.
“This collective effort is the most efficient and effective path forward,” the memo notes. “While we anticipate independent outside groups will get involved in the race, our joint effort is the most important because it will encompass all tactics under a unified strategy between Team Herschel and the Party.”
That effort will fund the campaign’s paid media strategy, which will message directly to Georgia voters, the memo says.
The campaign’s ground game will include “a robust team” that will help with communications, get out the vote efforts and fundraising.
“Our legal team is also ready to spend considerable resources to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat,” the memo says.
The NRSC plans to announce a national finance committee later Thursday, which will “help raise the considerable resources needed to win.”
The memo further encourages members of the Senate Republican Caucus to give maximum $5,000 contributions from their leadership PACS and $2,000 from their campaigns, and notes that members can transfer unlimited funds to the NRSC from their campaign accounts.
It also asks members to raise 10 maximum contributions of $50,000 from donors, noting that the maximum an individual can contribute to the Georgia Victory Committee is $271,300.
Other requests include sending donation requests to email and text donor files, short videos highlighting the importance of the race and asking for donations, allowance of a one-time use of direct mail donor lists and adding the Walker campaign to members’ WinRed upsell panels. It also asks for social media and television support.
Walker trailed Warnock in the race as of Wednesday night by less than a percentage point, with votes still being counted. However, an insufficient number of votes remain for either candidate to reach the 50% vote threshold needed to avoid a runoff.
That resets the count and sets the candidates up for another head-to-head match-up in December.
The race is crucial for both parties as it will likely determine which party controls the Senate in the next Congress.
