Loeffler group targets Democrats with billboards around baseball stadium

A group formed by former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) to counter Georgia Democrats’ voter registration efforts is out with a digital billboard campaign blaming Democrats for the MLB’s decision to pull its All-Star game out of Atlanta. 

The digital billboards from Greater Georgia, which feature images of President Biden, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, are displayed in “high-traffic areas” near Truist Park, where the Atlanta Braves play. Warnock is up for reelection next year after winning a runoff election against Loeffler in January to serve out the remainder of retired Sen. Johnny Isakson’s (R-Ga.) term. Abrams, a former state lawmaker, is seen as a top contender for Georgia governor in 2022.

The campaign accuses Democrats of spreading false narratives about a new elections law in Georgia that critics say is aimed at suppressing voters. All three Democrats featured in the billboard campaign have compared the legislation to Jim Crow laws that disenfranchised Black voters in the South for decades. 

The law has drawn backlash from the business and entertainment community as well. The MLB announced earlier this month that it would move its All-Star from Atlanta to Denver in response to the new voting law. 

Republicans have reacted furiously to that move, casting it as the latest front in their battle against so-called cancel culture and railing against apparent political activism by corporations. In a statement Monday, Loeffler blamed Democrats for politicizing the new law and putting pressure on the MLB to pull the event out of Georgia.

“Georgians were looking forward to hosting an annual celebration of America’s pastime after a year-long pandemic — but they’ve been failed by politicians’ lies that led to MLB’s relocation of the All-Star Game,” said Loeffler, who is weighing a 2022 Senate rematch against Warnock.

Republicans have argued that Georgia’s new law actually bolsters voter access by expanding early voting and codifying the use of ballot drop boxes, which were used for the first time in Georgia last year as an emergency measure due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But Democrats and voting rights advocates have complained that the law curbs the use of drop boxes, effectively curtailing their usefulness. They have also railed against a provision in the law creating a voter ID requirement for requesting and submitting absentee ballots and another that forbids giving food or water to people waiting in line to vote.