Perdue, Ossoff debate COVID-19, health care

U. S. Sen. David Perdue and challenger Jon Ossoff sniped at each other in an hourlong debate Wednesday night less than a week before the Nov. 3 election that echoed attacks the pair have lobbed at each other for months in television and social-media ads.

It was the second time Perdue, a Republican, and Ossoff, a Democrat, have squared off directly rather than through attack ads, which have racked up tens of millions of dollars and injected a bitter tension into the race.

Much of Wednesday night’s in-person debate hosted by WTOC-TV in Savannah revolved around keystone issues and political jousting that have come from both campaigns for months, as Democrats aim to flip a crucial Senate seat and Republicans seek to stand their ground.

Perdue, a corporate executive seeking a second sixyear term in office, has positioned himself as a staunch defender of President Donald Trump’s policies while casting Ossoff as a socialist aligned with progressive Democrats eager to reduce funding for police agencies and apply more government control to health insurance.

Ossoff, who runs an investigative journalism firm, has framed Perdue as an absentee politician more interested in his own personal and financial gain via the power of his Senate office, and slammed Perdue for following Trump’s lead in downplaying the threat of coronavirus during the COVID-19 pandemic’s early days.

Throughout the debate, Perdue slammed Ossoff for not acknowledging ties he had with a Chinese company on his campaign financial disclosure forms, accusing Ossoff of being too cozy with

China. Republicans have villainized China this election cycle as the originator of COVID-19.

“Clearly, China was responsible about this (virus),” Perdue said. “What we have to do is hold China accountable, and Jon Ossoff will not do that.”

Ossoff dismissed the accusation, calling it a diversion tactic to avoid talking about the state and country’s response to the virus as well as Perdue’s stance in opposition of the Affordable Care Act. Democratic candidates including Ossoff have posed health care as a key plank in their campaigns this election cycle.

“Blaming the Democrats, blaming foreign countries,” Ossoff said. “As I predicted, Sen. Perdue doesn’t want to talk about COVID-19 ... He is going to spend this entire debate deflecting from a substantive conversation about the most serious publichealth crisis in generations.”

Ossoff homed in on health care and insurance coverage for long stretches of the debate, claiming Perdue’s votes against the Affordable Care Act meant he sought to gut health-care options for Georgians with preexisting conditions.

“David Perdue does not care about our health,” Ossoff said. “He only cares about his donors.”

Perdue cried foul on that attack, arguing he supports expanding coverage for patients with preexisting conditions despite opposing the Affordable Care Act, which he claimed increased health-care costs and limited insurance options for many Georgians.

“What (Georgians) want is protection for preexisting conditions, get rid of surprise billing, which we can do, and also get at drug costs,” Perdue said. “He’s talking about politics. We’re talking about real potential solutions.”