In Georgia election, Democrat’s campaign fueled by suburban moms
GOP points out its candidate is a woman with more experience
If Jon Ossoff is able to win Tuesday’s congressional election, he’ll owe the victory in large part to an army of women in the wealthy Atlanta suburbs, many of whom — driven by guilt over not helping Hillary Clinton enough in 2016 — have spent dozens of hours a week volunteering for the 30-year-old Democrat.
Arlene Meyer, 47, a homemaker, said she has knocked on more than 1,500 doors for Ossoff. Thursday afternoon, Meyer and her friend Cathy Karell, 56, a retail manager, went around a neighborhood in 89-degree weather to talk to people about Ossoff and make sure they voted.
The week before the election, supporters of both Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel said the race — which polls show as a tossup — would be all about voter turnout.
“Hello, is this Fannie? Hi, Fannie, my name is Arlene, I’m with the Jon Ossoff campaign, and I’m just calling today to see if you were able to get your absentee ballot in?” Meyer said to a woman through her closed door. “You did? Excellent, thank you. … Thank you so much for being a voter!”
It’s the most expensive congressional race in history. Ossoff ’s campaign has raised $23 million.
This is the seat House Speaker Newt Gingrich held in Congress for 20 years. In November, Rep. Tom Price won re-election by more than 20 percentage points. When he was selected by President Trump as secretary of Health and Human Services, Democrats saw their opening.
The race pits Ossoff, a former documentary filmmaker and national security aide for Rep. Hank Johnson, D- Ga., against Handel, the former Georgia secretary of state.
Karell and Meyer had been acquainted, but they reconnected at a gathering that started with 11 people in a suburban Atlanta living room after the 2016 election.
“I looked around the room, and there were a lot of familiar faces,” Karell said about the first meeting she attended. “I think we all politely didn’t talk about politics (in the past.) It’s the elephant in the room. Most of us in this area assume that everybody you meet is really a Republican or a conservative, and so, you know, who wants to bring that up at a PTA meeting?”
That initial group of 11 has grown into the John’s Creek-Milton Progressive Network, which has more than 500 members on Facebook. One hundred and thirty people showed up at its last meeting where Ossoff spoke, according to Meyer.
When USA TODAY asked the candidate about his thoughts on the newfound Democrat community, he said, “I think that what has emerged here is a coalition of people who are interested in leadership that’s committed to them rather than to self or to party.”’
Republicans pointed to the fact that their party has the only woman in the race.
“The woman that you want to vote for in this race is the woman with more experience than her male counterpart ... and that’s Karen Handel,” Darryl Wilson, the GOP chair for the 6th district, said. “She’s more qualified, and that’s what women want, right? They just want the opportunity to be judged by their qualifications and their experience.”
According to Ossoff ’s campaign spokeswoman, Sacha Haworth, the campaign has had more than 11,000 volunteers who knocked on half a million doors. Including all the calls and texts, the campaign said it made 1 million voter contacts. At least one potential voter had been contacted at least 15 times, without committing to Ossoff.
Handel’s campaign said it wasn’t publicly releasing volunteer and voter contact numbers but the candidate has had a long list of VIP endorsers. Vice President Pence came to town, and Price and Agriculture Secretary and former governor Sonny Perdue rallied with her.
“I’m excited about her as a person, she’s the real deal,” said Wendy Johnson, who describes herself as a Baby Boomer and owns a leadership development business. “I’m also voting against Ossoff, and that’s fair, too. I don’t believe he has a track record. I don’t believe he’s been in the trenches.”
“I like that she served (in politics) … and I have no idea what Jon Ossoff has done, honestly,” said Jason Zimmerman, 38, a business owner wearing a Handel sticker at a food truck fair. Zimmerman, a conservative, conceded that Handel didn’t necessarily excite him as a candidate.
“I would rather vote for my party and who they’re supporting than I would for the opposite party,” he said.
“People are incredibly enthusiastic,” Handel told USA TODAY. “Yes, for me, but also for making sure that our next congressman be someone from this district, someone who has the deep relationships and connections that I have here.”