Summary
David Perdue’s seat was considered less competitive than the Georgia special election with Loeffler, but new polling shows the race there could be tighter than expected. Perdue will be facing Jon Ossoff this fall; the Democrat won his primary on June 9.
Compared to Loeffler, Perdue is not dealing with the same degree of personal baggage or a serious primary challenger, but he’s facing similar dynamics with Georgia’s shifting demographics. The suburbs outside Atlanta in particular are a tricky spot for the GOP, and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams’s narrow loss in the governor’s race in 2018 spooked Republicans. Perdue has the upper hand, and Democrats will undoubtedly have to spend and organize heavily in Georgia in order to make it truly competitive in November. But the poll numbers on Perdue’s race are still worth watching.
Vox by Elle Nielsen on June 11, 2020
OnAir Post: Georgia – US Senate 2020 Election
News
In the first TV ads of the runoff campaign that could help decide the balance of the Senate, Republican Sen. David Perdue warned his opponent would “radically change America,” while Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff accused his opponent of downplaying the coronavirus.
The ad from Perdue makes the misleading claims that Ossoff would “defund police” and provide “voting rights for illegal immigrants.” Ossoff has repeatedly said he does not support defunding police. And while he supports providing a pathway to citizenship to some 11 million immigrants currently in the country illegally, he does not support voting rights for noncitizens.
– November 11, 2020
Election Day 2020 has come and gone, and we still don’t know which party will control the Senate next year. As of Tuesday at 10 p.m. Eastern, it looks as though Democrats will have 48 seats1 in the next Senate, while Republicans will have 50. (We don’t yet know who won Alaska, but at this point, it will be very difficult for Democrats to make up their current vote deficit there.) So that leaves the two Senate seats from Georgia to determine control of the chamber in a rare double-barreled runoff election nearly two months from now.
Republican senator David Perdue has a slight lead against Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff, according to a new poll from WSB-TV/Landmark Communications.
The poll surveyed 500 likely voters in the state on November 1 and found that 49 percent said they’ll support Perdue compared with just under 47 percent for Ossoff. One percent of voters said they remain undecided just ahead of Election Day.
President Trump trails Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden by 1 percentage point in Georgia, according to a new survey, while Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) trails challenger Jon Ossoff (D) by the same margin.
In the Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll released Monday, the former vice president leads Trump 47 percent to 46 percent. Libertarian Party candidate Jo Jorgenson has the support of 3 percent of respondents.
Biden also leads Trump on the issue of which candidate would better handle racial equality in the U.S., 50 percent to 42 percent. Roughly 2 in 3 respondents — 67 percent — cited this issue as important to their vote.
Joe Biden has pulled neck and neck with President Donald Trump, and the state’s two incumbent Republican senators are also in close contests.
The Quinnipiac poll also shows Sen. David Perdue locked with his Democratic challenger, Jon Ossoff, 49 percent to 48 percent, and Ossoff leading self-identified independents by a 10-point margin.
Georgia’s twin U.S. Senate races are also competitive.
U.S. Sen. David Perdue (47%) and Democrat Jon Ossoff (45%) are neck-and-neck, within the poll’s margin of error of 4.3 percentage points. Libertarian Shane Hazel has 4% support, and about 5% are undecided.
A sure sign the outcome is in doubt is how much the candidates and the national super PACs backing them are spending to bomb the airwaves, to the dismay of political ad-weary TV viewers. Total TV/radio ad spending in the race, including future bookings, is now more than $83.4 million, political advertising broker Medium Buying reported last week.
“Money is being poured into Georgia because it could go either way,” said Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia.
What’s turned a close race in Georgia into a critical contest nationally is that Democrats need to gain only three or four seats to control the Senate, depending on which party wins the vice presidency. The vice president presides over the Senate and can break tie votes.
“Both parties are really interested in what happens here,” said Kerwin Swint, a political science professor at Kennesaw State University.
With U.S. Sen. David Perdue’s re-election chances teetering on a knife’s edge, the Republican is talking more about himself as a “bipartisan problem solver” — and less about his reputation as one of President Donald Trump’s most loyal allies.
Democrat Jon Ossoff is keen to remind Georgians of the first-term incumbent’s voting record and history of stock trades, which he casts as a reflection of all that’s wrong with a “corrupt” Washington establishment.
– September 11, 2020
Democrat Jon Ossoff has a climate plan, while incumbent David Perdue has followed Trump’s lead on the issue. But the pandemic takes precedence in many voters’ minds.
Climate change may not be front and center in Georgia’s Senate race, but first-term Republican Senator David Perdue and challenger Jon Ossoff offer voters a clear choice in a state that has a lot to lose from global warming.
Georgia has suffered from the kind of weather extremes that have been linked to climate change, including excessive flooding, drought, sea-level rise and supercharged hurricanes.
But only Ossoff, the CEO of a small London-based documentary production company called “Insight: The World Investigates,” is willing to talk much about global warming.
David Perdue
Current Position: US Senator since 2015
Affiliation: Republican
Candidate: 2020 US Senator
Prior to his decisive election to the U.S. Senate in 2014, David had never held public office and was inspired to shake up Washington and change the direction of our country.
David is a champion for term limits for politicians, reining in out-of-control spending, growing the economy, and tackling our nation’s debt crisis. In 2016, David was an early supporter of President Donald J. Trump and continues to be one of the President’s closest allies in the U.S. Senate.
For more information, see this David Perdue post.
Jon Ossoff
Current Position: Investigative Journalist & Media Executive
Affiliation: Democrat
Candidate: 2020 US Senator
I’m running to ensure every Georgian has great health care, to deliver historic investments in clean energy and infrastructure, to rebuild this economy so working families and small businesses thrive, and to root out corruption so government serves the people — not private interests with legions of lobbyists.
For more information, see this Jon Ossoff post.
Issues
Economy
David Perdue
Overregulation has sucked the very life out of our free-enterprise system. By rolling back confusing and often contradictory regulations, and undoing the most onerous parts of Dodd-Frank, we’ve begun freeing up trapped capital and started to put it to work in our economy. These efforts are making banks work for average Americans and generating much-needed economic growth to help solve our national debt crisis.
Washington is locked in a cycle of continuing resolutions and last-minute spending deals. This is totally irresponsible. We need a politically-neutral platform to fund the government on time, every year. Fixing the funding process alone will not solve our debt crisis, but we won’t solve this debt crisis until we fix our broken funding process.
Jon Ossoff
The COVID-19 outbreak is causing enormous economic hardship. Tens of millions are losing jobs. Businesses are shuttered. Banks and landlords are threatening foreclosure and eviction. Essential workers are underpaid, underprotected, and underinsured.
This crisis is laying bare structural inequity and corruption in U.S. economic policy. Similar to the 2007-2008 financial crisis, while hardship is concentrated among working- and middle-class families and smaller businesses, the fastest and biggest emergency relief has gone straight to the top.
The government’s financial safety net for Wall Street is vast and instantaneous, while help for ordinary people and smaller firms has been meager and slow.
Rather than relying on subsidies for Wall Street as economic stimulus and hoping the benefits trickle down, I’ll support policies that help Georgia’s families make and save more money: fast and generous direct emergency relief during economic crises, lower taxes for all but the wealthiest Americans, debt-free public college, free vocational training, and health care guaranteed at an affordable price.
To create millions of jobs, revitalize our economy, and alleviate poverty, I’ll support the most ambitious infrastructure program in history. Upgraded infrastructure will serve as the foundation for decades of prosperity, sustainability, and health.
Georgia is a growing economic powerhouse in agriculture, logistics, aerospace, technology, clean energy, and media. Georgia’s businesses and entrepreneurs are the crucial engine of job and wealth creation in our state.
I’ll work to make tax and regulatory compliance simpler and more efficient for our businesses. I’ll expose and attack unfair and unethical trade, labor, and environmental practices by overseas competitors that disadvantage American workers and businesses. I’ll work to reduce our dependence on Chinese supply chains and strengthen domestic producers. I’ll support strong antitrust enforcement and I’ll attack anti-competitive special interest subsidies secured by dominant firms with lobbying power at the expense of smaller competitors and startups. These policies will support long-term prosperity, competitiveness, and strength.
Education
David Perdue
N/A
Jon Ossoff
We all want and we all deserve the basics in life: a steady job that pays a living wage and helps us save for retirement, good health care, a nice home, and a great education for ourselves and for our kids.
But in America today, equality of opportunity isn’t a reality — and in so many ways that inequality starts in our educational system.
To improve the quality of primary and secondary education, I support increasing teacher pay and breaking the link between a community’s wealth and the funding available for its public schools.
When discussing higher education, the national political debate tends to focus on four-year college degrees. We need greater emphasis on vocational training. For someone currently making $10 an hour without benefits, a commercial driver’s license or a welding certificate can be life-changing.
That’s why in the Senate I’ll work to make trade school and vocational training free for every American.
And I’ll work to make four-year degrees at our public colleges 100% debt-free.
So many Americans today are held back by student debt — can’t start a business, start a family, or buy a home — because they can’t keep up with student loan payments.
But the cost of education shouldn’t hold us back. Education should expand our opportunities.
I support a generous forgiveness program for those struggling to pay off their student loans, caps on interest rates to relieve financial stress for all borrowers, and a program that links Federal student loan payments to income so paying off student loans is never a financial hardship.
Environment
David Perdue
N/A
Jon Ossoff
The health of the environment is vital to our own health, prosperity, and security. In the Senate, I’ll make energy and environmental policy on the basis of scientific evidence — not lobbying by polluters.
We face an urgent environmental crisis as out-of-control pollution is fast changing the climate, destroying ecosystems, killing off species, and damaging human health.
The scientific consensus is unambiguous: if pollution from fossil fuel combustion is not controlled, the consequences will be dire.
We can meet our energy needs without destroying the environment — but only by rapidly transitioning to clean energy sources, dramatically reducing carbon emissions, and increasing energy efficiency.
That’s why I’ll support a historic infrastructure plan that includes massive investments in clean energy, energy efficiency, and environmental protection.
I’ll push for America to immediately re-enter the Paris Climate Accords — and then to lead negotiation of an even more ambitious climate treaty.
I’ll work to reverse the Trump Administration’s rollbacks of clean air, clean water, and fuel economy standards — and then to strengthen them.
I’ll push for fast advances in sustainability — including a rapidly phased-in ban on single-use plastics, strongly enforced treaties to protect oceans and fisheries, aggressive protection of endangered species and habitats, increased fines for spills and contamination, and stricter controls on toxic chemicals.
Health Care
David Perdue
N/A
Jon Ossoff
This pandemic should be a massive wake-up call for those who doubt the necessity of ensuring all Americans have health insurance.
The link between health and wealth must be broken. It is essential that every single American has great health care. And Georgia already faced a shocking health crisis, with among the highest rates of uninsurance and maternal mortality in the country.
In the U.S. Senate, I’ll work to make great health insurance a simple, affordable, reassuring reality for all of us. Other countries have achieved this. So can we.
Health insurance is too expensive and complex, and protections for women, young people, and pre-existing conditions are under attack. Few plans are available, premiums are high, surprise billing is frequent, and dealing with insurance companies can be a nightmare.
Even today, in the midst of a massive health crisis, the GOP, led by David Perdue, is still working to rip health insurance from tens of millions of Americans. The GOP and David Perdue have also long planned to cut Medicare, putting health care for seniors at risk.
I’ll vote to protect and strengthen Medicare, and I support offering all Americans a public health insurance option as an affordable alternative to private insurance.
The public plan’s premiums will be affordable for all and there will be no deductibles for necessary care. Its coverage will be comprehensive — including preventative care, prescription drugs, dental, vision, hearing, mental health, and neonatal and postnatal care. Medicaid expansion and auto-enrollment of the uninsured will ensure all Americans are covered regardless of wealth.
Your insurance will be your choice. Americans will be free to maintain exclusively private health insurance or to purchase supplemental private insurance on top of the public plan if they so choose.
For those with private insurance, I’ll vote to strengthen the Affordable Care Act’s protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions, women, and young people. Those protections remain under attack by the health insurance industry and their allies in the GOP.
See post for more info.
Immigration
David Perdue
N/A
Jon Ossoff
My mother is an immigrant. She came to this country when she was 23 because she believed in the American Dream, and she’s lived it. She became a successful entrepreneur, a U.S. citizen, and an active participant in our democracy.
Our country, like any country, must know and control who crosses our borders, and strong border security doesn’t require us to sacrifice our moral principles, our commitment to human rights, or our American identity as a haven for people fleeing persecution and striving for opportunity.
Ripping children from their parents and disappearing them into federal custody is an atrocity.
I’ll support an immigration policy that strengthens our borders, puts American workers first, respects human rights, and creates a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants who are already here and otherwise follow the law, especially those brought here as children.
We must reform the horrifically dysfunctional Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement so that these agencies carry out their duties with competence and humanity.
And instead of making life hell for migrants, immigration enforcement should crack down on the employers of undocumented immigrants, like The Trump Organization.
Infrastrcture
David Perdue
N/A
Jon Ossoff
I’ll push for an unprecedented American infrastructure program that includes big, overdue investments in transportation and transit, clean energy, energy efficiency, public health, communications, research and development, emergency response, and environmental cleanup.
These investments will create job training and employment opportunities for millions of American workers and demand for products made by American businesses. They will revitalize our economy and lay the foundations for decades of prosperity, environmental sustainability, and health.
Infrastructure is often taken for granted. It includes energy production and the grid, transit, roads, bridges, tunnels, rail, aviation, ports and waterways, communications, cybersecurity, water treatment and distribution, housing, and public health.
Upgraded infrastructure will make life safer and more convenient, support commerce, attract investment, protect our environment, and improve our health.
Strong, advanced infrastructure is also essential for resilient and effective emergency response – whether pandemic, natural disaster, national security, or the totally unexpected.
Money spent on infrastructure is truly an investment in America, with positive returns across the entire economy and dramatic improvements to our quality of life.
Safety
David Perdue
With a myriad of threats around the globe, the world needs America’s leadership. After years of disengagement and failed foreign policy under the previous administration, President Trump has reengaged with the rest of the world. We have made it clear that America’s national security comes first, but America first does not mean America alone. Defense, development, and diplomacy go hand-in-hand and are key components of an effective national security strategy.
Jon Ossoff
Our criminal justice system should render justice and protect the public while upholding due process, civil rights and civil liberties, and equal protection under the law.
Yet in the United States today, deep race and class disparities persist in policing, prosecution, and sentencing. Racial profiling, arbitrary detention, brutality, and abuse in detention and incarceration are widespread. We incarcerate tens of thousands guilty of non-violent, victimless crimes, destroying lives and incurring massive costs.
The deck is stacked against defendants who lack money, while those with wealth and connections often secure special treatment or outright impunity.
Our approach to punishment must respect the human dignity of incarcerated people and recognize that except for the most dangerous violent criminals, successful re-entry to society after incarceration is crucial for both the convicted and the public.
Nevertheless, brutal and inhumane conditions prevail in our prisons and jails.
Mandatory minimum sentencing, the drug war, and the misguided use of criminal enforcement as a response to addiction, mental illness, and poverty have contributed to mass incarceration that is a blight on our country.
…
A clear majority of Georgians support reforms to reduce injuries and deaths from gun violence while protecting the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
I support the Second Amendment and I respect the overwhelming majority of gun owners who recognize that guns aren’t toys; they are lethal and dangerous tools.
Firearms possession comes with great responsibilities for safe ownership, storage, and use.
The shocking level of gun violence in America today makes plain the need for gun safety reforms, which will not preclude any responsible and qualified American from owning firearms for home defense, hunting, marksmanship, collection, or recreation.
I support universal criminal history checks for gun purchases, red flag laws to protect family members and domestic partners concerned about the mental health of their loved ones, and closing the gun show loophole.
I support a ban on the sale of semi-automatic rifles (“assault weapons”) and high-capacity magazines to the general public.
See post for more info.
