Ossoff avoids a runoff, will challenge Perdue

Jon Ossoff captured the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, emerging from a crowded field that included two well-financed rivals to win an outright victory in the race to challenge U.S. Sen. David Perdue.

Ossoff, 33, notched a clear win that eluded him three years ago when he waged a special election campaign for a suburban Atlanta congressional district that earned national attention. He narrowly missed avoiding a runoff in that contest, only to lose to Republican Karen Handel two months later.

In that race, Ossoff was a virtually unknown candidate

who stunned the party by raising roughly $30 million. This time, he came into the race as the de facto front-runner, and he wielded his financial advantage and superior name recognition against his two main competitors, Sarah Riggs Amico and Teresa Tomlinson.

He also left little to chance. With surveys showing him hovering near the 50% mark, Ossoff poured $450,000 of his own cash into his campaign to amplify his message and extend his outreach efforts.

In a virtual press conference earlier Wednesday, when his margins were tighter, Ossoff was reluctant to discuss the possibility of a clear win. Georgia candidates must win more than 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff.

“We don’t know what the outcome is. There are hundreds of thousands of votes that remain uncounted,” said Ossoff, who owns an investigative journalism firm. “When we are satisfied that all the votes are counted, we can talk about next steps.”

The victory gives state Democrats the chance to unify behind his campaign against Perdue, a first-term Republican and former Fortune 500 chief executive with close ties to President Donald Trump.

Perdue, 70, will be a formidable foe. His family’s sprawling political network has deep ties to Republican power brokers in Atlanta and Washington, and he’s amassed $9 million in his campaign account. He is so popular among Republicans that he didn’t draw a primary challenge.

As Democrats dueled for the right to challenge him, Perdue has tied them to “socialists” and questioned whether they support the nascent movement sparked by the George Floyd protests for racial justice to cut funding to law enforcement agencies.

Absentee surge

Ossoff ’s victory was called by The Associated Press as absentee ballots from metro Atlanta, his biggest base of support, steadily boosted his vote total above the 50% mark. Earlier in the day, with Ossoff just short of an outright victory, Tomlinson declared that she had forced the runoff.

Tomlinson, who was in second place in the mid-teens, sent a press release trumpeting a runoff between a “proven leader and a failed repeat candidate who can’t break 50%.” It was a reference to his 2017 defeat in the nationally watched race against Handel.

“Voters in Georgia know we need a strong candidate to take on David Perdue, and even though Jon is universally known, a majority of voters have rejected him again,” she said.

It was an unusually strong rebuke for a candidate who was trounced by Ossoff in every part of the state except the region surrounding her Columbus base. It was also a reminder of how brutal a runoff could have become if Ossoff didn’t win the race outright.

Tomlinson was unsparing in her criticism of the 33-year-old former congressional candidate, questioning his level of experience as she contended she’s the only Democrat in the race who can defeat Perdue.

Amico, the party’s 2018 nominee for lieutenant governor, was in third place, close behind Tomlinson.

Focus on Perdue

Ossoff was the last of the major candidates to enter the race, announcing in September, months after Tomlinson launched her bid. He became the perceived front-runner, thanks to the name recognition he built during his 2017 race for the 6th Congressional District in Atlanta’s northern suburbs.

He narrowly lost that race, the most expensive U.S. House contest in history, after raising roughly $30 million during the campaign. But he amassed a lengthy donor list, a network of contacts and hard-earned experience.

Armed with the endorsements of U.S. Reps. Hank Johnson and John Lewis — veteran Democrats he considers mentors — Ossoff has embraced left-leaning policies he didn’t emphasize during his 2017 campaign.

And he’s kept his message fixed on Perdue, whom he’s described as a corrupt defender of the status quo. “I expose corruption for a living,” he said at a forum, “and David Perdue sells access for campaign cash.”

With Jon Ossoff (left) scoring a clear victory Tuesday, state Democrats can unify behind his campaign against Republican David Perdue, who has close ties to President Donald Trump.