Ossoff: Harris campaign has put Georgia in play, expects her to win the state

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) said Saturday that Georgia is now “in play” for Democrats thanks to Vice President Harris’s campaign, predicting that she will likely take the Peach State in November.

Ossoff said in an MSNBC interview with Rev. Al Sharpton that Harris’s campaign launch has “exceeded my expectations, and my expectations were high.” 

“She’s rapidly united the Democratic Party behind her candidacy, sees the momentum in this head-to-head race against former President Trump, and she’s electrifying volunteers and grassroots Democrats across the country,” he continued. “She’s put Georgia in play.”

President Biden trailed former President Trump significantly in Georgia, according to polls just before he left the race, though new polling shows Harris performing much more competitively in the state. She was just 2 points behind Trump in a The Hill/Emerson College poll Thursday, within the margin of error.

“I think that this is a true toss-up race in Georgia,” Ossoff said, predicting a close margin of victory. “I expect her to win Georgia. It’s going to take a mighty effort, the kind of effort that we summoned here in Georgia to deliver the state for President Biden in November of 2020, and to win those two historic Senate runoff victories in 2021.”

Harris has significantly outperformed Biden in polling among young people, Black voters, and Hispanic voters, key demographics that could decide swing states like Georgia and Arizona.

Democrats have quickly coalesced around Harris, with her campaign already gathering enough committed delegates to effectively lock up the party’s nomination. No other candidate has challenged Harris for the nomination, and her campaign has broken numerous fundraising records as it attempts to make up for a late start.

Polling has shown Harris improving over Biden’s figures against former President Trump, though now all attention is on who her vice presidential candidate will be. In the three Georgia polls since Harris launched her campaign last week, she trails Trump by 1, 2 and 4 points, respectively.