The Georgia special election to replace former Rep. Tom Price became the most expensive congressional race in history, according to a Monday report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Democrats and Republicans spent nearly $15 million in the race before the “jungle primary” vote on April 18, and Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel have already doubled that amount, placing ads and making other expenditures totaling $30 million so far in the race.
The most expensive congressional race before the Georgia special election was the $29.6 million spent in the 2012 Florida congressional race between former Rep. Allen West and former Rep. Patrick Murphy, according to the Center for Responsive politics.
$11 million of the total new campaign spending is in the form of TV and radio ads currently placed between the April vote and the runoff election June 20.
The Republican-backed Congressional Leadership Fund announced in April it would spend $2.5 million in advertising in support of Handel in response to a stunning Democratic fundraising effort.
Democrats nationwide poured $8.3 million into Ossoff’s campaign during the first quarter of 2017, and outside groups invested heavily in ads against Trump’s agenda.
The race was widely considered to be a safe Republican race, but Ossoff turned the local race into a nationwide fight against President Donald Trump when he named his first fundraising event “Make Trump Furious.” Republicans have held the seat since 1979, when former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich took the seat and held it for 20 years.
The seat became vacant when President Donald Trump appointed Price to Secretary of Health and Human Services in November. The Senate confirmed Price to the post in February.
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