The Georgia Republican Party has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission charging illegal coordination between Senate candidate Jon Ossoff and a super PAC run by Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer.
The Republicans pointed to identical language on the website of the Democratic candidate and the ads from the super PAC linked to Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat.
“Chuck Schumer will do anything he can to get Jon Ossoff in the Senate, and we think that Georgians deserve to know if Jon Ossoff has been illegally coordinated with one of his super PACs,” said Stewart Bragg, the executive director of the Georgia GOP.
The complaint, which was filed this week, highlights the flood of outside groups into Georgia for the two Senate runoff elections on Jan. 5 that will decide control of the upper chamber.
If Democrats win both runoff races, they would take effective control of the chamber with a 50-50 party split and presumptive Vice President-elect Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.
Mr. Ossoff, 33, is seeking to unseat Republican Sen. David Perdue, 70, who is seeking a second term.
Georgia Republicans said the Georgia Way, a new PAC formed on Nov. 16 with tied to Mr. Schumer’s Senate Majority PAC, put out the same message as Mr. Ossoff’s campaign. The alleged coordination should be counted as a $690,200 in-kind contribution, according to the complaint.
The Ossoff campaign did not respond to requests for comment about the FEC complaint.
“From public information alone, the timing and similarity between the advertisement and campaign update suggest that this element has been met,” said the complaint. “Jon Ossoff for Senate published its campaign update on Nov. 12, 2020. Four days later, the Georgia Way was organized as an effort to defeat Sen. Perdue by the Senate Majority PAC, and only eight days later after the Georgia Way’s organization, it disseminated the content and conduct of Jon Ossoff for Senate’s campaign update in its own video advertisement.
”Both major political parties are throwing mountains of cash at the two runoff races: Mr. Ossoff versus Mr. Perdue and Democrat Raphael Warnock versus Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler.
Both races are toss-ups in the latest polls.
The Republican candidates at times have offered voters a joint package. Their message is that should Mr. Ossoff and Mr. Warnock win, they will help Mr. Schumer and presumed President-elect Joseph R. Biden push through a radical left-wing agenda.
Democrats counter that Mr. Perdue and Ms. Loeffler misused their insider knowledge from COVID-19 briefings to profit off stock transactions.
• James Varney can be reached at jvarney@washingtontimes.com.
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