Super PAC with ties to McConnell pledges over $14M in Georgia Senate runoff amid tensions with Scott

A super PAC with ties to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday announced it would be pledging $14.2 million in efforts to help Republican Herschel Walker win the Georgia Senate runoff against Sen. Raphael Warnock (R-Ga.) amid rising tensions between different blocs of the GOP.

The announcement from the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), first reported by Fox News, includes a digital, radio and TV ad campaign. It follows the super PAC channeling $2 million into using Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s (R) voter turnout apparatus on loan after he cruised to a decisive victory last week.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, has already spent $700,000 on the Georgia Senate runoff, according to NBC News, and is up with its own advertising.

“SLF is all-in on electing Herschel Walker to the Senate. This air assault – along with our previously-announced ground game – shows we are pulling out the stops to win in Georgia and beat the Democrats,” said Senate Leadership Fund President Steven Law in a statement.

But the news comes amid public infighting between camps aligned with NRSC Chairman Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and McConnell.

Scott on Tuesday said in a private meeting he would challenge McConnell for the job of GOP leader.

Earlier on Tuesday, NRSC spokesman Chris Hartline called out the Senate Leadership Fund for not yet committing resources toward the runoff.

“The NRSC is coordinating closely with Herschel’s campaign on digital fundraising. We’re raising money directly into his campaign and into the building to spend in GA (we’ve been on the air since last week),” Hartline tweeted in response to a tweet from Law over the NRSC’s fundraising. “SLF still isn’t up on the air. We look forward to you guys joining us.”

Meanwhile, Law responded to an adviser of Scott’s on Twitter about the super PAC’s prior lack of spending in Georgia, saying, “Your TV buy was barely 350 [gross rating points] in ATL. But don’t worry little buddy—we’re used to covering for you.”

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm announced $7 million in a “field organizing investment.” While Democrats have secured a majority in the upper chamber, a win for Walker in Georgia is critical for Republicans’ hopes of evenly dividing the Senate 50-50 between the two parties.

“Senate Republicans are getting nasty, petty and viciously personal – everything we could ask for heading into the Georgia runoff. For our part, Senate Democrats are unified and focused on re-electing Rev. Warnock,” Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman David Bergstein said in a statement.