Democrats go back to where they started to eliminate the Trump era: Jon Ossoff

Now, Ossoff’s Senate campaign against incumbent Republican David Perdue, with the majority at stake in Georgia’s second round, is demonstrating a major shift in what Democrats believe will work in the country’s most divided places, such as the 6th district of the country. Georgia was in 2017 and the state of Georgia is now in 2020.

Ossoff called his parallel Senate campaigns with fellow Democrat Raphael Warnock “the biggest election in the history of the state of Georgia” in front of a crowd of over 100 supporters at a drive-in rally here on Saturday night, on a stage in the rain while car horns blared.

“Donald Trump is leaving. He may not know yet, but he is leaving,” said Ossoff. “And Georgia voters sent Donald Trump away. You did that, Macon. So the question now is what comes next.”

In interviews and at their events, Democratic allies say that Ossoff has not necessarily changed, but has improved as a candidate. Stacey Abrams, the unofficial leader of Georgia’s Democrats who ran for governor in 2018, said Ossoff is speaking directly to voters’ biggest concern in his Senate campaign. In an interview, Abrams said the race for the job is a “steep learning curve” and said Ossoff “dominated admirably”.

“He has become an experienced and thoughtful candidate who understands the needs of voters, but also understands the art of communication,” said Abrams.

This art created great moments for Ossoff, who called Perdue a “swindler” in the controversial stock negotiations during a general election debate, a moment that attracted donations and attention on social networks in the last days of the election. He used a live Fox News interview last week to escalate an attack against Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler, who is running against Warnock.

Although Democrats celebrated Ossoff’s talent in 2020, Republicans scoffed at these viral moments and pointed out that their moment of debate did not result in a victory in November. Perdue narrowly missed the 50 percent limit to win the race, but got about 88,000 votes ahead of Ossoff. Speaking in the election campaign, Perdue adds his votes and those of the libertarian candidate, arguing that 52.5% of the state’s voters rejected Ossoff and his “liberal democratic socialist agenda”.

“In all but one other state, I already won this race,” Perdue told supporters at an event on Wednesday, noting that Georgia’s unusual run-off rule requires a majority to win, rather than just finishing in first. Perdue had to leave the campaign the next day to quarantine after close contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19.

As Ossoff evolved as a candidate, he was also at the forefront of broader changes in Georgia that put Perdue in political danger. Six years ago, Perdue won his first election with slack and strong performance in the ancestrally republican suburbs of Atlanta – like Cobb County, which voted for Perdue by 13 percentage points six years ago.

But Trump lost the county by 2 points in 2016. Biden and Ossoff took double digits in November, although Biden slightly exceeded the Senate candidate’s performance.

Ossoff’s run helped drive rapid change in this area, which continued when Abrams ran for governor and congresswoman Lucy McBath won the 6th district of Georgia for Democrats in 2018. Angelika Kausche, a 2017 Ossoff campaign volunteer, said her campaign in the House gave her and others a way to channel frustration with Trump’s election. Kausche ended up competing, and launching, a suburban district of state houses.

“We were all disappointed that he didn’t win, but he came very close and basically showed us that this idea that this is all so Republican is a myth,” said Kausche.

“A lot of people like me came out of their safe space saying ‘I’m independent’ and saying that we have to defend who we are and the values ​​we represent, and really go out and fight for the Democrats,” added Kausche, crediting Ossoff’s campaign for change.

Ossoff has based himself on that campaign now, financed by the $ 100 million it raised for the second round. His campaign has praised his efforts to get votes, including this week’s announcement that he has hired 2,000 young people, mostly black organizers, to carry out outreach activities in their communities and online.

“What I learned in 2017 was about the power of ordinary people when they come together to build political power and make changes,” Ossoff told reporters on Saturday. “This participation effort that is taking place in Georgia now is totally unprecedented, and the engagement and involvement of young people is unprecedented here in Georgia.”

The Republican view of Ossoff has also changed somewhat. The party hit him in 2017 for having a thin resume and living outside his neighborhood. This year, in addition to continuing to attack his resume, Republican groups added a flurry of TV ads linking him to China because his film production company received a license fee from a Hong Kong media company to show a documentary. Opponents of the Republican Party have also come to call Ossoff a socialist, an attack on most Democratic candidates in 2020.

“Only a 33-year-old trust socialist could spend most of three years campaigning for jobs for which he is not qualified,” said Jesse Hunt, a spokesman for the Republican campaign arm in the Senate.

Corry Bliss, a GOP operative who led the super PAC that attacked Ossoff during his House campaign, argued that Ossoff was competitive at the time and now because of his fundraising.

“Raising $ 100 million in California could help anyone cover up the flaws,” said Bliss. “Ultimately, Jon Ossoff’s downfall will be the same as in 2017, that he is an unrealized liberal.”

But the Democratic Senate hopes to rely on the fact that Georgia has continued to evolve over the past four years. Biden became the first Democrat to win the state in a presidential race in nearly three decades, after Abrams narrowly lost his run for governor two years ago. The disputes for the Senate will be disputed, but the early attendance among black and young voters it gave the Democrats some optimism.

After Athens Mayor Kelly Girtz met with Ossoff outside the town hall on Saturday, Girtz said that Democratic enthusiasm in Georgia has increased since Ossoff demonstrated in 2017 how close the party was to reaching new places.

“As a member of the Democratic Party here in Georgia, I feel that we are a train rolling on the tracks and we will never return to the exclusively Republican state leadership,” said Girtz.

He also attributed Ossoff’s focus outside the state’s main population centers, a necessity since Ossoff began the universally known Senate race in the Atlanta area, but without a footprint in the rest of Georgia.

Ossoff talked about his visit to Cuthbert, a small town in the southwest of the state where a rural hospital was closed this year, emphasizing its focus on health. Between the rallies in Athens and Macon, Ossoff held an event in Eatonton, a city of 7,000 in the center of the state.

“These are not major meccas, but you need to activate people in every city of 5,000, 10,000 and 100,000 people,” said Girtz. “It can’t just be Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta, Athens.”