Could this man retake Georgia for the Dems?
V It has been nearly 25 years since the Democratic party last won a US Senate seat in the southern state of Georgia.
But, with a little bit of help from Donald Trump, Jon Ossoff may break that losing streak this November. Mr Ossoff, a 33-year-old Jewish Democrat, sprung to national prominence early in the president’s term when he came close to an upset by-election victory in a once-solidly Republican congressional district formerly represented by Newt Gingrich.
That strong performance was an early indication of the revolt against Mr Trump in the Republicans’ suburban strongholds which helped the Democrats seize control of the House of Representatives in the November 2018 mid-term elections — and upon which Joe Biden’s hopes of reaching the White House also rest.
Mr Ossoff sat out the mid-terms but in June easily won the party’s primary for the November Senate race. Polls indicate that Mr Ossoff is in with a shot of unseating the Republican incumbent, Senator David Perdue. The website currently rates the contest between the two men a “toss-up”, with Mr Perdue leading by an average of four points.
The race has beengrubby: last month, the Republicans were forced to remove a digital advertisement which featured a manipulated image of Mr Ossoff with an enlarged nose. While Mr Perdue’s campaign blamed an “unintentional error”, the Democrat was having none of it. “This is the oldest, most obvious, least original antisemitic trope in history,” Mr Ossoff responded.
Mr Ossoff’s chances of victory will be boosted if Mr Biden becomes the first Democrat since Bill Clinton in 1992 to carry Georgia. The
average puts Mr Trump just one percent ahead. Mr Biden will also be keenly aware that Mr Ossoff’s race is one of the key battlegrounds which will determine whether the Republicans
maintain their Senate majority and thus the ability to frustrate and stifle his agenda should he make it to the White House.
Unusually, Georgia voters will be electing two Senators this year, due a by-election for the state’s other Republican-held seat. In November, candidates from both parties will compete against each other in a socalled “jungle primary”. Polls suggest that the strongly pro-Trump Kelly Loeffler, who was temporarily appointed to the Senate in January, won’t gain the 50 percent of the vote she needs to avoid a run-off in January.
Among the Democrats competing in the contest is Matt Lieberman, the son of former vice-presidential candidate Joe Lieberman. Although Mr Lieberman currently appears unlikely to advance to the run-off, polling indicates he could run Ms Loeffler close if he does.
Alongside demographic changes, which were already turning some other Republican “red states” into more competitive “purple” ones, Mr Trump’s unpopularity may have boosted the Democrats’ chances in Georgia. But, even if he loses to Mr Biden, the president will bequeath his party a difficult legacy. That was demonstrated last week when Marjorie Taylor Greene won the Republican primary in one of the party’s safe House districts in north-western Georgia. Ms Greene has backed the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory. She has also made a series of remarks about blacks, Jews and Muslims, including reportedly suggesting that the billionaire Jewish philanthropist George Soros is “a Nazi himself trying to continue what was not finished”. While some leading Republicans, and the Republican Jewish Committee, endorsed Ms Greene’s primary opponent, pro-Trump campaign groups poured money into her campaign.
But while a delighted Mr Trump labelled Ms Greene a “future Republican star”, others in the party were less impressed, with one prominent conservative journalist suggesting that “the Trump-era GOP has weakened antibodies against kookery”. If Mr Trump loses in November, the fight to stave off the infection will be an urgent one.
Ms Greene has backed the far-right QAnon conspiracy’