Rep. Buddy Carter cleared in FEC investigation over campaign spending

A Federal Elections Commission investigation surrounding a 2021 campaign advertisement from Rep. Buddy Carter has found that he did not violate campaign spending laws.

The Democratic Party of Georgia filed the complaint alleging illegal campaign spending by Carter (R-Pooler) last August.

"My priority has been, and always will be, serving Georgia's First District. Now that this frivolous ethics complaint is behind me, I will have more time to do exactly that. My campaign has always acted in good faith and today the FEC agreed," Carter said in a statement.

More: FEC complaint filed against Rep. Buddy Carter for spending advertising money outside his district

The complaint centered around a statewide advertisement aired by Carter during the Major League Baseball All-Star Game last year. The commercial derides baseball’s “catering to cancel culture” by pulling the All-Star game out of Atlanta following the passage of Georgia’s controversial voting law, S.B. 202.

The DPG complaint alleged that Carter spent campaign money for a statewide ad, but not yet announced his run for a statewide post, as is required 15 days after spending more than $5,000 to campaign for another seat.

At the time, Carter was exploring a run for the Senate. He abandoned that ambition when Herschel Walker launched his candidacy. Walker won the GOP primary in May.

The FEC found that at no point in the ad did Carter mention a Senate run. In November, Carter filed the paperwork with the FEC for his 2022 run to hold his House seat.

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"Accordingly, the Commission finds no reason to believe that Earl L. 'Buddy' Carter failed to file a Statement of Candidacy for the U.S. Senate in violation of 52 U.S.C. § 30102(e)(1)," the findings of the FEC investigation read.

Included in the DPG’s complaint were various exhibits, including details of the campaign’s spending on the advertisement. It shows $75,000 invested in airtime for the advertisement, with over $50,000 spent in Atlanta, around $23,000 spent in Savannah and a little over $1,000 spent in Macon.

Within the FEC's rules is a provision for money spent to "test the waters,” with polls, telephone surveys, traveling around the district or state — any means of exploring the feasibility of running for a particular seat.

The DPG complaint alleged Carter's activities didn't fall under that provision and instead used "general public political advertising to publicize their intention to campaign.”

But the FEC found that because Carter conditioned his run on Walker not running, and never referred to himself as a potential candidate for Senate, he was not in violation of of campaign finance law.

"Because Carter does not appear to have been a Senate candidate, there was no need for the Carter Committee to file an amended Statement of Organization that it was a committee for Carter running for Senate," the FEC findings read.

Carter’s advertisement ran statewide, a fact his team made note of in promoting the ad in a press release. Carter currently represents Georgia's 1st District, which is comprised of 14 counties along the Georgia coast.

Will Peebles is the enterprise reporter for Savannah Morning News. He can be reached at wpeebles@gannett.com and @willpeeblessmn on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: FEC investigation clears Buddy Carter campaign finance allegations