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Georgia
Senate
| GEORGIA |
Nov. 3,
2020 U.S.
Senate
Jan. 5, 2021
Senate runoffs > |
|
Plurality: 88,098 votes (1.78 percentage points) GA
Secretary of State
Notes: Sen. David A. Perdue (D), a former business executive seeking a second term, faced Jon Ossoff (D), an investigative journalist who was the Democratic nominee in CD-6 for the 2017 special election, as well as Shane Hazel (L), a Marine Corps veteran and producer/host of the Radical podcast. Perdue fell just short of the 50-percent required to avoid a runoff. In the June 9 primaries, Perdue did not face a challenger. Seven candidates competed for the Democratic nomination. Ossoff won with 52.82% to 15.79% for former Columbus mayor Teresa Pike Tomlinson and 11.76% for 2018 lieutenant governor candidate Sarah Riggs Amico. The Perdue campaign got into a bit of hot water over a Facebook fundraising ad run in the latter part of June in which Ossoff's nose was slightly enlarged and extended. After Forward broke the story in late July, the campaign attributed the portrayal to an "inadvertent error" that arose in "the graphic design process handled by an outside vendor." In a July 28 tweet, Ossoff, who is Jewish, wrote, "This is the oldest, most obvious, least original anti-Semitic trope in history. Senator, literally no one believes your excuses." There were two general election debates. All three candidates participated in the first debate, part of the Atlanta Press Club Loudermilk-Young Debate Series, hosted by Georgia Public Broadcasting on Oct. 12; the candidates and panelists participated from remote locations (>). The second debate was scheduled for Oct. 19, but postponed as Perdue had a vote in Washington. The debate was rescheduled for Oct. 29; the two major party candidates met in person for the event hosted by WTOC-TV in Savannah (>). The candidates were eight feet apart and separated by a plexiglass divider. A clip of Ossoff's withering direct attack on Perdue went viral: "Perhaps Sen. Perdue would have been able to respond properly to the COVID-19 pandemic if you hadn't been fending off multiple federal investigations for insider trading [pauses]. It's not just that you're a crook, Senator, it's that you're attacking the health of the people that you represent. You did say COVID-19 was no deadlier than the flu. You did say there would be no significant uptick in cases. All the while you were looking after your own assets and your own portfolio and you did vote four times to end protections for pre-existing conditions. Four times..." A final debate, scheduled for Nov. 1 on WSB-TV, was canceled after Perdue bowed out to rally with President Trump. Libertarian candidate Shane Hazel, who had run for Congress against U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall (R) in CD-7 in 2018, achieved some success getting out his message in a no-budget campaign primarily through his podcast. He emphasized ending the lockdowns and government control as well as a range of criminal justice reforms. Hazel obtained 2.32% of the vote compared to 1.25% for the Jorgensen/Cohen ticket. In addition to this race, the special election jungle primary for the seat held by Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R) and the presidential race, which tightened in the closing weeks (+), were at the top of the ballot. Georgia voters thus faced a lot of advertising. The races intersected; for example Perdue was one of the introductory speakers in the warm up periods at Trump's rallies in Macon on Oct. 16 and in Rome on Nov. 1. He generated some news in Macon when he appeared to mock Kamala Harris' name. At the Rome rally he concluded, "Let's make sure we never let the road to socialism run through the state of Georgia." Perdue also participated in a discussion with Ivanka Trump in Acworth on Oct. 13. Campaign Managers: David Perdue: Ben Fry General Consultant: Paul Bennecke Jon Ossoff: Ellen Foster (Aug. 2019) Chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Anthony Brindisi (NY), Jan.-Apr. 2019. Campaign manager on Brindisi for Congress (June 2017-Dec. 2018). Finance director on Zephyr Teachout for Congress (NY), Jan.-Dec. 2016. Deputy finance director on Madeline Singas for District Attorney (Nassau Co., New York). Bachelor's degree in political science from Colgate University, 2014. |
OSSOFF
There was lit. for the runoff, but
the campaign reports it did not produce lit. for
the primary or general due to COVID and no mail
either. According to campaign manager
Ellen Foster, for the primary the campaign was
running on "a shoestring budget and tv in the
Atlanta media market is so efficient to talk to
voters (plus the election date got moved because
of COVID and we weren’t sure if it would keep
getting moved – so tv and digital were easier to
adjust)."
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