GOP groups turn up heat on Ossoff ahead of Ga. runoff
Republican groups are ramping up their attacks on Democrat Jon Ossoff as he heads to a runoff for Georgia’s open House seat.
Ossoff failed to win more than 50 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s all-party special election, so he will now face off against Republican Karen Handel in a June 20 runoff, where they’ll vie for the seat vacated by President Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary, Tom Price.
The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), a super PAC aligned with House GOP leadership, has already spent $3 million against Ossoff. Now the super PAC is keeping up the pressure in a new video one day after the election.
The CLF is seeking to paint Ossoff as Hollywood’s candidate since he received a lot of campaign contributions from celebrities, even receiving on-the-ground help from two actors during early-voting efforts.
{mosads}The video also pointed out that 95 percent of his donations came from out of state. Ossoff hauled in an unprecedented $8.3 million in three months.
“Jon Ossoff’s campaign is nothing more than a product of Nancy Pelosi and the liberal elite,” said CLF executive director Corry Bliss.
Bliss also references the fact that Ossoff, who grew up in the district, now lives slightly outside of it. Osssoff has said he moved outside of the district so his girlfriend could attend medical school.
“With 95 percent of backers from out-of-state and Hollywood elite lining up behind him, it’s laughable that Ossoff, who doesn’t even live in the sixth district, can credibly claim he’s accountable to anyone other than Nancy Pelosi and her out-of-touch agenda.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) also released a new video, “Meet Jon Ossoff,” that hits the Georgia Democrat for living outside the district and accusing him of inflating his national security credentials.
The NRCC’s video also knocks Ossoff, an investigative filmmaker, for working for Qatari news network Al Jazeera.
The House GOP’s campaign arm has previously spent money on this race and sent paid staffers to the suburban Atlanta district along with staff from the Republican National Committee.
“The campaign has only just begun and it is time, once again, for Georgia voters to meet the real Jon Ossoff – the one who talks about bringing jobs back to Georgia but bases his own company overseas,” said NRCC spokesman Matt Gorman.
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“The one who wants to hold politicians accountable but lied to the voters about his own national security experience.”
Ossoff won a little over 48 percent of Tuesday’s vote, a strong showing for a Democrat in a reliably conservative district. Democrats were looking to make the special election a referendum on Trump, who won the district by less than 2 points in November.
But with the 18-candidate field down to only two, Ossoff will have a much steeper climb for the open seat now that Republicans are coalescing around Handel.
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