Perdue blasts 'out of state' money as Georgia Senate spending expected to hit $500M
Analysts predict the runoffs could become the most expensive races in history
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., blasted his Democratic opponent on Sunday for taking money from out of state as analysts predict the twin Georgia Senate runoffs could become some of the most expensive races in history.
"Well, who would believe that you could spend a half a billion dollars in two Senate seats in one state, but it might happen," Perdue told "Sunday Morning Futures." "In my general election, my opponent, just like Kelly Loeffler's opponent, most of their money is coming from out of state, mostly California and New York."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We just resent that to some degree down here because we don't want people from outside the state coming down here and trying to dictate what we're going to do," he continued.
Perdue is facing Democrat Jon Ossoff, while Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., is facing Rev. Raphael Warnock.
In this Nov. 15, 2020, file photo Georgia Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate Raphael Warnock, left, and Jon Ossoff, right, gesture toward a crowd during a campaign rally in Marietta, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)
FiveThirtyEight reports that 96% of money raised by Ossoff and Warnock through Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue came from out-of-state donors, including $25.8 million from California and $10.6 million from New York.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Perdue and Loeffler aren't too far behind that percentage with 92%, FiveThirtyEight reported. But controlling for population shows that Georgians are the Republicans' top donors, while Democrats' biggest donors were from Washington, D.C., according to FiveThirtyEight.
The Democrats are handily beating the Republicans in the fundraising game, and many celebrities have flocked to help the Democrats.
Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams is reportedly holding weekly briefings for Hollywood managers, agents and entertainment executives on how they can best help Democrats win in Georgia.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Kerry Washington and John Legend are among the heavyweights organizing to help Ossoff and Warnock win their races.
In this July 15, 2020, file photo Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., puts on a face mask as she walks with Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., right, at UPS Hapeville Airport Hub in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Abrams has previously enlisted celebrities like Selena Gomez, Steph Curry and Issa Rae to cut videos for Fair Fight, her voting rights group. Georgia has become known as a "Hollywood of the South" thanks to its generous tax credits for filmmakers. Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown told the Hollywood Reporter the growing entertainment industry in Georgia was proof of a "new South that's rising."
"This race has become a national race so this is everybody in the country, Democrats and Republicans, trying to weigh in here to get the majority in the Senate," Perdue said on Sunday. "If we keep the majority we not only hold a line against the Democratic agenda but we also protect the gains that we made under President Trump over the last four years."
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More than $280 million was spent on the 2020 Senate race in North Carolina, making it one of the most expensive Senate races in U.S. history.
Fox News' Morgan Phillips and David Rutz contributed to this report.