World News | Jon Ossoff Wins Georgia Senate Primary; Will Face Perdue Jon
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. Jon Ossoff, a young Georgia media executive known for breaking fundraising records during a 2017 special election loss for a U.S. House seat, beat back a field of Democratic primary opponents to win a spot taking on Republican Sen. David Perdue in November.
Atlanta, Jun 11 (AP) Jon Ossoff, a young Georgia media executive known for breaking fundraising records during a 2017 special election loss for a U.S. House seat, beat back a field of Democratic primary opponents to win a spot taking on Republican Sen. David Perdue in November.
Ossoff received about 50.7% of the votes, according to votes tallied as of Wednesday night.
He had maintained a steady lead in public polling and fundraising despite some significant competition from former Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson and 2018 candidate for lieutenant governor Sarah Riggs Amico.
Ossoff's victory allows him to avoid a potentially bruising primary runoff that had been seen as likely and sets up a showdown with Perdue, 70, as Republicans look to hold the White House and Senate majority.
In his livestreamed victory remarks Wednesday night, Ossoff took immediate aim at his opponent's response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying Perdue was “too busy adjusting his stock portfolio to warn us of the gravest public health emergency in a century.”
A Perdue spokeswoman has previously said the senator “goes above and beyond to fully comply with the law.” “The task before us is a mighty one,” Ossoff said.
“The president of the United States and his allies in Congress are leading this country down a dark path and we can go down this path no longer. We can no longer go down a path of authoritarianism, of racism, of corruption. We are better than this and Georgia is better than this.”
The election on Tuesday was plagued by problems that, combined with a massive influx of mail-in paper ballots because of the coronavirus, delayed final results.
A lack of poll workers, trouble with new voting equipment, coronavirus restrictions and high turnout contributed to long lines, with 20 of Georgia's 159 counties having to extend voting hours for at least one precinct.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger sent absentee ballot applications to 6.9 million active registered voters in Georgia, and more than 1 million ballots had been received as of Monday, Raffensperger spokesman Walter Jones said Wednesday.
That's a huge increase in the number of paper ballots that counties have traditionally had to process in past elections.
Ossoff, 33, entered the race in September with the endorsement of civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, as well as some built-in name recognition from his highly publicized special election loss to Republican Karen Handel for an Atlanta-area U.S. House seat in 2017.
The CEO of a company that produces investigative reports on crime and corruption for news organizations, Ossoff has made fighting inequality and corruption a core part of his message.
Ossoff's opponents often took aim at his lack of experience in elected office, with Tomlinson proclaiming that she was “the only one in this race who has ever won an election and governed.” But those attacks seemed to have little effect.
“Jon Ossoff is a fighter against Washington corruption and a champion for hardworking Georgia families, and is going to be an excellent U.S. Senator,” Democratic Party of Georgia Chairwoman Nikema Williams said in a statement Wednesday night.
“His work uncovering corruption and investigating war crimes demonstrates his commitment to fighting for justice, and his grassroots support across the state shows that he is ready to win this November.”
Meanwhile, changes to campaigning necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic, including a move away from in-person events in favor of online engagement, seemed to play toward the strengths of Ossoff's media-savvy campaign. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)