After the nomination and confirmation of Tom Price as the Secretary of Health and Human Sciences, there was a need for a special election for a replacement for Georgia’s sixth Congressional district. While the seat has been held by a Republican since 1979, there was a strong showing by Democratic Jon Ossoff to “flip” the sixth. The special election ultimately ended with no candidate winning over 50% of the vote, which means the seat will remain vacant until a runoff election is held on June 20th, 2017.
Ossoff’s personal resume is impressive – he’s only 30 years old, but he’s interned with congressman and civil rights John Lewis, attended Georgetown and the London School of Economics, and worked as a staffer and aide to representative Hank Lewis. Ossoff is also the CEO to a small business that works to expose corruption in government and medicine. This company produced a documentary that exposed mass killings and sexual assaults commited by ISIL in Iraq. However, Ossoff has never held public office before, which critics are quick to point out.
The “priorities” section of his website lists health care, the economy, and civil rights and liberties as his top areas of concern, but his website covers several other topics as well, like the environment and criminal justice. Ossoff has received public endorsements from Democratic representatives Hank Johnson and John Lewis, senator Bernie Sanders, and celebrities like Samuel L. Jackson, George Takei, and Alyssa Milano. His campaign managed to remarkably raise over 8 million dollars from supporters.
There was recent outcry over Ossoff’s residency. He lives outside of his district, and according to Handel, that makes him ill-suited to represent the district. However, according to federal law, a candidate does not even need to live in the state they represent. Ossoff himself said, “I grew up in this district. I grew up in this community. It is my home. My family is still there,” when questioned on if he could even vote in the election he was running in.
One person who’s definitely not a fan of Ossoff is President Donald Trump, who made a series of angry tweets regarding the Georgia election. The president even recorded a robo-call to discourage voters from voting for Ossoff that was delivered to residents of the sixth district (which includes parts of Atlanta, Cobb, Fulton, and Dekalb) on the day before the election. Even with this tactic, Ossoff actually came very close to winning 50% of the vote – he received 48.1% of the vote, as compared to runner-up Karen Handel’s 20%. Handel has also lost the last two elections she has ran in, but will likely gain more support as she faces Ossoff one-on-one. The strong Democratic showing in elections not only in Georgia, but in Kansas as well, is thought to be a response to the first months of Donald Trump’s presidency. The future of the election remains to be seen, with Handel criticizing the influence Ossoff has gained from “Hollywood.” However, Ossoff claimed that the initial election’s results were a “victory for the ages.”
“So bring it on, because we are courageous. We are humble. And we know how to fight,” Ossoff remarked in his speech, promising that the campaign to flip the sixth is far from over.