{"id":840019,"date":"2026-09-08T00:24:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T00:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/840019\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T00:24:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T00:24:15","slug":"negative-blitzes-and-foster-youth-testimonials-georgia-voters-flooded-by-record-breaking-ad-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/840019\/","title":{"rendered":"Negative blitzes and foster youth testimonials: Georgia voters flooded by record-breaking ad war"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) \u2014 A wide fundraising gap is reshaping Georgia\u2019s race for governor, with Republican Rick Jackson using his financial advantage to run television ads while Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms focuses on direct outreach and digital organizing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Bottoms spent Labor Day rallying working families in Atlanta, where she promised to expand Medicaid and address rising grocery costs. Supporters at the event were encouraged to record and post endorsement videos on social media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cIn this age of disinformation and misinformation, our trusted voices are coming from our communities,\u201d Bottoms said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">State <a href=\"https:\/\/www.transparencyusa.org\/ga\/race\/governor-of-georgia-76665\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.transparencyusa.org\/ga\/race\/governor-of-georgia-76665\">campaign finance disclosures<\/a> show Bottoms has raised nearly $6 million, while Jackson has raised more than $118 million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The disparity has been evident on local television, where many ads featuring Bottoms have been negative spots funded by Jackson\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">One ad, titled \u201cNever Again,\u201d criticized Bottoms\u2019 record as Atlanta mayor, describing her administration as \u201ca short tenure, but one filled with challenges and pitfalls.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Jackson\u2019s campaign has also aired ads highlighting his biography, including spots featuring foster care youth who thank him for helping them attend college.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Bottoms criticized the spending during her Atlanta campaign stop.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cRick Jackson\u2019s trying to buy this campaign,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Political analyst Ben Taylor said the large spending gap is about more than television airtime. He said both campaigns are attempting to shape voters\u2019 perceptions of their opponent before people disengage from political messaging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cBoth candidates are trying to define the other one,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cThe question becomes: who is better at that? Who do voters buy more of that from? And can the candidates successfully define themselves in ways that allow the voters to reject the opposition\u2019s framing?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Taylor said many undecided voters dislike political infighting and may tune out traditional television advertising, placing greater importance on campaigns\u2019 ability to communicate directly with voters.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WANF. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) \u2014 A wide fundraising gap is reshaping Georgia\u2019s race for governor, with Republican&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":840020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49853,5786,77041,49858,355697,4,450,681,355696,265460,451,305307,3,305308,452,453,49852],"class_list":["post-840019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-anf","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-news","tag-atlanta-news-first","tag-atlanta-politics","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-georgia","tag-georgia-voters","tag-georgia-voting","tag-headlines","tag-keisha-lance-bottoms","tag-news","tag-rick-jackson","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-wanf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}