Stacey Abrams — Slapped With Record Breaking Ethics Fine

A record-breaking $300,000 ethics fine has crippled a Stacey Abrams-founded political group, raising serious questions about accountability and the future of left-wing activism in Georgia.

Story Snapshot

The New Georgia Project, founded by Stacey Abrams, was hit with the largest ethics fine in Georgia’s history for campaign finance violations.
The group’s decline began years before the penalty, fueled by financial mismanagement and internal turmoil.
The organization’s secretive handling of donor money and lack of transparency led to a prolonged legal battle.
Abrams’ departure and the group’s collapse signal a major setback for progressive voter mobilization efforts in Georgia.

Record Ethics Fine Hits Abrams-Founded Group

The New Georgia Project, a high-profile voting rights organization started by Stacey Abrams, received a $300,000 fine from Georgia’s Ethics Commission in January 2025. This penalty, the largest ever imposed by the commission, stemmed from the group’s decision to spend over $3 million supporting Abrams and the Democratic ticket in 2018 and more than $600,000 on a local ballot initiative in 2019. The violations occurred because the organization conducted election-related work through a nonprofit structure, shielding its finances from the public eye and sidestepping disclosure laws that apply to independent committees.

Stacey Abrams-Founded Political Group Collapses After Record $300,000 Ethics Fine https://t.co/LjckyKjN9S

— rfruth (@rfruth) October 16, 2025

Georgia’s Ethics Commission began investigating the New Georgia Project in 2019, after it became clear the group’s financial activities did not meet state transparency standards. The nonprofit fought to keep its bank records hidden for years, only revealing them in 2022 after a judge’s order. This six-year saga culminated in the unprecedented fine, highlighting the risks when activist organizations operate outside of established legal frameworks. The sheer size of the penalty underscores the seriousness of the violations and the need for strict campaign finance enforcement.

Organizational Decline and Financial Mismanagement

Long before the fine, the New Georgia Project faced mounting internal issues. Reports of financial mismanagement and high staff turnover plagued the organization, draining resources and undermining its mission. Instead of focusing on voter outreach or civic engagement, leadership directed significant time and money toward legal battles to avoid financial scrutiny. Such turmoil weakened the group’s ability to function effectively and eroded confidence among supporters. By the time the ethics penalty was announced, the organization was already a shadow of its former self, struggling to maintain relevance.

The departure of Stacey Abrams from the New Georgia Project marked a turning point. Abrams, who had risen to national prominence as a voting rights advocate, left the group at an unspecified date, leaving a leadership vacuum. Typically, when a founder steps away amid controversy, it signals deeper problems—whether reputational, strategic, or operational. The lack of clear direction and ongoing financial woes hastened the group’s decline, raising questions about the sustainability of similar activist organizations built around a single charismatic leader.

Legal Distinctions and Transparency Failures

The campaign finance violations at the heart of this case involved using a nonprofit structure for direct electoral work, rather than creating a separate, transparent committee. Under Georgia law, independent committees must regularly file financial disclosures, making their donors and spending public. By contrast, nonprofits can keep most financial information secret, limiting transparency. The New Georgia Project’s admission of spending millions on elections through its nonprofit arm, without proper disclosure, violated these rules and triggered the record fine.

This case sets a precedent for how state regulators will approach nonprofit involvement in political campaigns. The enforcement action reinforces the principle that all organizations engaging in election-related spending must follow the same transparency and disclosure standards. It also exposes the dangers of organizations prioritizing donor secrecy over public accountability, a practice that undermines the integrity of the electoral process and invites further legal scrutiny.

Impact on Georgia’s Political Landscape

The collapse of the New Georgia Project is a significant blow to left-leaning voter mobilization efforts in Georgia. The group’s work was credited with helping Democrats in key races, including the 2020 presidential election. However, its decline—accelerated by the ethics scandal and internal dysfunction—removes a major organizing force from the progressive playbook. With Abrams no longer involved and the organization crippled, Democrats face new obstacles in mobilizing voters in a state that has become increasingly competitive. For conservatives, this episode underscores the importance of robust oversight and the risks of unchecked political activism masquerading as nonprofit work.

While other Abrams-founded groups like Fair Fight Action continue to operate, the fallout from this ethics case sends a strong message: transparency and legal compliance are non-negotiable. As the dust settles, Georgia’s political future will depend on whether similar organizations adapt to stricter standards or follow the New Georgia Project’s path to decline.