Ossoff, in statement shortly after 1:30 a.m., formally accepts run-off, is "ready to fight on and win in June."
— Robert Costa (@costareports) April 19, 2017
Per CNN:
Republicans were served another reminder of President Donald Trump’s unpopularity Tuesday as Democrat Jon Ossoff nearly captured a House seat in a region that for decades has been a conservative stronghold, with the Democrat ultimately falling just short of the percent needed to avoid a runoff.
CNN projects that Ossoff will miss the 50% he needed to win outright. He and the other top vote-getter — Republican candidate Karen Handel — will now face off on their own in June.
The hotly contested race carried major implications as a gauge of the President’s popularity — and Trump himself seemed to grasp the high stakes, playing a direct role in its closing days.
Democrats saw it as an opportunity to drive a wedge between Trump and congressional Republicans fearful that he could drag down the party in the 2018 midterms — while also delivering a psychic boost to an energized progressive base.
They nearly pulled it off. And two months later, Ossoff will get a second shot in a one-on-one runoff with Handel albeit an uphill climb now that the Republican vote in a reliably GOP district will be consolidated behind one candidate…
“There is no doubt that this is already a victory for the ages,” Ossoff told supporters late Tuesday night. “That no matter what the outcome is tonight — whether we take it all or whether we fight on — we have survived the odds. We have shattered expectations. We are changing the world. And your voices are going to ring out across this state and across this country.”
Even after Ossoff left the stage, many supporters stuck around, chanting, “Flip the Sixth!”…
The near-death experience for Republicans — on the heels of one a week earlier in Kansas, where Democrats nearly flipped a deep-red district — could still have the effect of leading GOP lawmakers in competitive states and districts to seek distance from the President, making it even more difficult for Trump to advance his agenda on Capitol Hill.
In Tuesday’s results, Democrats saw more evidence of a playing field for the 2018 midterm elections that has drastically expanded — and given the party’s 10 senators up for re-election in states that Trump won some breathing room…
That’s a hopeful thought:
The numbers I'm looking at suggest he falls short of 50 percent but he'll be close enough to scare GOP US House members not to mess with ACA https://t.co/CGspNffKEH
— Al Giordano (@AlGiordano) April 19, 2017
Achrachno
I hope it scares ’em into being more reasonable, but some people are too stupid to realize what they’re looking at.
sharl
Heh-heh
Don’t worry Karen, you may forget about him, but he won’t forget about you. Just check Twitter on occasion – I’m sure he can do as much for you as you did for Komen.
Mnemosyne
Per Al Giordano:
Karen Handel is best-known nationally for trying to deny mammograms to poor women.
Ossoff needs to tie her to the House Republicans, stat. He needs to tell us about how the Republicans want to end your health insurance, and Karen Handel wants to make sure you can’t get that cancer screening anywhere else.
The Dangerman
I thought Trump was going to blow up the ACA by witholding funds in his “best” MLK impersonation? I’m behind and/or not sober.
Villago Delenda Est
What agenda? Donald has no clue, no plan…only slogans that may satisfy the herd of morans who are his base, but are no basis for legislation, even if the incompetents surrounding the shitgibbon had a clue how to craft leglislation.
The desperation of the Village to normalize this fascist fuck is deplorable in and of itself. The renewal of America after Donald is gone needs to include the annihilation of the Village, which is responsible for making his fraudulent “election” possible.
Donald, and his vile Ivana spawn, are going to go to prison.
Aleta
Maxine Water @MaxineWaters 18 hours ago
The President is a liar, his actions are contemptible, & I’m going to fight everyday until he’s impeached.
gene108
Per what I could find at this AJC link there were 97,997 votes cast for Republicans, 167 votes,cast for Independents, 92,390 votes cast for Osoff, and 93911 total votes for all Democrats.
I am not sure what this means for the June run-off, hopefully Osoff’s support has not peaked.
Also, Democrats need to win this seat. Losing by a lot or losing by a little or losing by technicality is still losing and will not truly scare any Republican, because they will still be in charge.
gene108
Let us not forget the Montana special election, coming up shortly. Go Quist!
TenguPhule
@Villago Delenda Est:
Work camps, 20 year minimum hard labor picking fruits and veggies. To be overseen by Mexicans with bullwhips and no tolerance for bullshit. Mandatory quotas, no production, no meals.
TenguPhule
@The Dangerman:
This actually makes it easier to figure out. Which is quite sad.
Yes, that’s Donno’s current bad plan of action. Who knows what it will be tomorrow?
NotMax
The pendulum in Georgia may or may not have swung, but it is definitely in motion.
MSM seem to go out of the way to avoid mentioning it is the district Gingrich represented.
Elizabelle
@NotMax: Gingrich’s district. How illustrative. And thus, that fact dare not be spoken.
The LA Times and the NY Times do speak it, the LAT in a much better (and shorter!) article.
Gingrich’s name goes unmentioned in the WaPost story by Robert Costa, which is the most negative on Democrats. Look at the headline and blurb on the WaPost website.
Downer Debbie reporter Robert Costa, who might be a Republican whisperer. You will recall Trump called him to say he had “pulled” the ACA replacement legislation that was headed for defeat in the House. Trump been calling David Fahrenthold lately?
Elizabelle
The Los Angeles Times has a snappy and informative article, excerpted here, although would have killed them to include that Trump won this district by 1 or 2 points, while Romney romped through with 23 in 2012.
Reporters are Catherine Decker and Jenny Jarvie.
Los Angeles Times: Democrat faces June runoff after narrowly missing victory for a Georgia House seat
** they need not live in their districts? That’s odd, and seems a bad idea. Maybe because of all the damn gerrymandering over the years.
Elizabelle
Fuck the Fucking NY Times has an informative headline:
Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, Narrowly Misses Outright Win in Georgia House Race
That’s kind of positive!
Thank Dog for that last line. I don’t want those jackasses anywhere near the ACA.
akryan
so fucking frustrating that more people didn’t turn out. It was “huge” for a special election. 43% of people showed up to vote! Wow! If you can’t tell I’m being sarcastic, I am. FFS, Democrats had the opportunity to pick up a national seat. All of those Republicans that may have crossed over for Ossoff in the primary are going to come right back home in the general.
JPL
@Elizabelle: Karen Handel said ACHA was a good first step, even though it would treat females like second class citizens. She might debate Ossofff once, but I’m not even sure of that. She wins by being invisible.
Elizabelle
@JPL: I noted that Handel’s debacle with Planned Parenthood appeared in zero of the three articles cited.
Why do we remember that, and journalists do not? It’s hardly immaterial, or even partisan.
She has a record, and it ain’t pretty. I think the NYTimes (?) identified her as “business-friendly.”
qwerty42
@Elizabelle: … Why do we remember that, and journalists do not? It’s hardly immaterial, or even partisan. …
Heck, her administration of Komen and the PP affair were discussed here and Jezebelle and a number of other places. But it will come out; however, the district is very red, so may be less effective. Nevertheless, these close calls — in places where they should not be — have to be of concern to the GOP leadership. I have donated to all three campaigns (Quist in MT is next month … the Ossoff runoff is in June).
I do not expect the “president” to begin governing in a wise and thoughtful manner in the meantime … heck, ever. So, who knows? The close calls may start going our way. In any event, the outline of 2018 is showing up.
Quinerly
@NotMax:
MSNBC constantly mentions that it was Gingrich’s district. Some pieces in the WAPO last week too. My beef is they never mention Karen Handel’s background.
Quinerly
@akryan:
My fear is there will be even less turnout in June…..vacations, plus interest will fall off.
qwerty42
If you have not read it yet, see Josh Marshall http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/my-take-on-tonights-result-in-ga-6
… The reality is this is an incredibly strong showing. It’s a strong GOP district. This is a dramatic shift in the Democrats’ direction. And Ossoff still has a solid shot in the run off.
The way you win Congress is that you contest every race. You learn from each contest, win or lose. You refine the strategy and message and go back again. (I spoke to a very experienced Dem consultant about a month ago who didn’t think Ossoff had any chance in this race. He was wrong.) We don’t know where the country will be in 18 months. But to the extent you can draw a line between tonight and election day 2018, the results of this race and the Kansas race taken together point to a anti-GOP wave election in 2018.
I don’t want us to count chickens before they’re hatched, so that does not mean we can kick back. But the country *is* seeing a lot of what we are.
weaselone
@akryan:
Who are all these Republicans that crossed over in the primary? They had 11 different Republicans to choose from here. Why would fewer of them vote for the Democrat now that there were fewer Republican candidates to choose from?
qwerty42
@Quinerly: Always, always a problem with runoffs …
qwerty42
@weaselone: All but one was “pro-Trump” (not that they wanted to talk about that)
debbie
@Mnemosyne:
Yes, but he must also be sure to focus on what it is he will do for his district.
JPL
@debbie: He received a higher percentage of the vote than he polled. If he can keep his base energized and improve the numbers in DeKalb, then he can win.
It will be difficult, but doable. This is coming from the person, who previously, said no way in hell can a dem win in this district.
debbie
@JPL:
I knew you were no jinx! ;)
According to TPM, he got 48% to Handel’s 20%. That’s a great start. I hope they have some sort of rapid response plan to counter all the bullshit and lies that will be hurled at him.
amk
@JPL: How many votes did the other dems pull away from him? Would it have mattered?
guachi
I’m not certain this is a great result. The Democrats got 49% of the vote and outperformed the 2016 Presidential results by only 2.5% or so.
Elizabelle
I think one of the best spurs to getting voters to turn out would be doing another pinkhat type rally/protest/event. They’re energizing, show our strength, and great for network building.
So far it does not look like Barcelona is doing an earth day protest/support of science, but I will check again.
guachi
@amk: The other Dems got .9% of the vote. So, no, it wouldn’t have mattered.
Kay
Good piece on the Susan Rice bullshit.
But Rice was just collateral damage to the objective, which was to cover Trump’s ass. You do have to think they chose this particular “face” for a reason, though. It’s the 2nd time they’ve invented a scandal around Rice.
JPL
@amk: The other dems received about a percent. David Abroms a republican who ran as an anti-trumper pulled some votes also, but not enough to count.
Hal
Question: were there any republicans running away from Trump or running on a different platform than usual, or were they all Tom Price clones? I’m wondering if Ossoff can pull any of those voters to him.
amk
@guachi: @JPL: Thanks. Hopefully he pulls this off in June.
debbie
@Kay:
I’m shocked they’d try distraction. When did this new strategy begin?!
Kay
And anyone who thought anything real was going to come out of the House investigation can forget it:
It’ll be covered as “both sides” and turn into some bullshit “larger questions on intelligence gathering” forum. This entire investigation rests on Comey and there’s no real reason anyone should trust him other than his own claims of integrity.
Kay
@debbie:
Yeah, I think “distraction” is way too mild. The President accused this person of committing a crime to deflect attention from his own wrongdoing. If that now qualifies as a “distraction” that’s pretty scary.
The President does this regularly. Part of his political strategy is accusing specific people of committing crimes. That’s now a norm- just part of the arsenal. Political prosecutions are terrifying. He has a LOT of power.
clay
Well, here’s a line from the GA-06 results that I didn’t expect to see:
What did this poor guy expect?
EDIT: HE wasn’t the Republican with the lowest vote total, however. Progress!
Betty Cracker
@Elizabelle: Costa used to write for National Review; he’s definitely a wingnut. That said, his reporting for the Post isn’t bad — by the low standards of Beltway media political coverage, anyway. But he definitely has a bias.
Elizabelle
@Kay: That’s so damn pathetic.
I hope having a list of Obama people blows up very badly on those lying Republicans.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: Seems like a fair description to me. Can see the bias, but also the attempt to put verified facts on the table, and make a coherent whole.
Jeffro
@Kay:
They’re all in it too deep at this point. Not excusing the behavior, just sayin’…
At least half of the eventual indictments that come down are going to be for people lying about what they knew, and when, in regards to others colluding with Russian intelligence and/or Russian criminals.
JPL
@clay: It didn’t help that he made several anti-Semitic comments, directed towards Ossoff and reporters for the AJC. .
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Scary but true — our only hope is that Comey’s self-regard compels him to expose Team Trump with the same self-righteous energy with which he pursued the bullshit allegations against Clinton. I am somewhat heartened every time I see a new analysis that concludes Comey threw the election; he seems like the type who would regard such a consensus as an intolerable stain on his self-styled role as the most morally upright man in DC. But even that gigantic ego amounts to a slim reed to hang all our hopes on…
Tripod
@guachi:
It’s not. He performed at about the 2016 PVI. But if that’s the new reality, it is tremendous shift.
Booman has a number of posts bemoaning the loss of rural whites while picking up voters in suburban sunbelt seats, but I’m unclear of the point. Ideological string pushing is your bog standard wilmerite call to action, but constituents are stubbornly self selecting.
I’m sure labor’s influence will decline in a party full of these sort of seats, but hey… MAGA.
germy
@Betty Cracker: What do you make of Nancy Cordes (CBS News)?
Every time I see her on TV she’s spinning GOP talking points like crazy.
This morning, I think it was about five times in a 30 second segment she mentioned Ossoff’s money raising. I’ve never heard her mention republican fundraising.
clay
@JPL: Huh. Well, I guess I understand why he’s a Republican (anti-semite), but I’m still not sure why he thought other Republicans would vote for a guy with such a scary Muslim name.
efgoldman
There are always vanity candidates. Some are deluded and think they can win; some want to make a point; some just do it on a lark. Why, we even had one in the Democratic party last year, and he’s still yapping like a terrier puppy.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
The part that worries me is not so much him, as what I see as a certain lack of control he seems to have over the FBI.
I keep going back to that bullshit story they planted in the NYTimes in October- “no Russian connection to Trump” – that CAME from the FBI. There is a Trump faction within the FBI and they’re out front enough that they planted a story exonerating Trump a week before the election. It’s like the Rudy/NY Field Office faction and honestly the FBI has some huge problems with integrity just within their ranks.
It would be nice to have a back-up if they fail.
clay
@efgoldman:
We’ve got one in the goddamn White House.
bupalos
I was feeling kinda disappointed in the result, then I remembered my business trips there when I was working in foreign language translation. We used to go down to Northrup Grumman and Lockheed on the regular, and it reminded me how this can be the most educated Republican district in the country and yet vote for Trump. This place is swarming with engineers and “support” people, for my money it’s one of the wealthiest, most self-satisfied, and most corporate-lazy places I ever visited. Trump’s pledge to not have the military fight anywhere but to somehow spend tons of money on weapons programs anyway is absolutely central to their cluelessly parasitic way of life.
One trip we needed 3 microphones for a conference room (we didn’t really need them, but they were on the list) that hadn’t been provided. In the end a team of 4 people was put on that critical mission, the conference was rescheduled for 2 hours later, and we all (18 people) adjourned to a local liquid lunch spot on the company’s dime. There were probably a couple hundred dollars of security theater cooked up too, as one of our project managers had an expired driver’s license and they needed to decide how she could be permitted into their secure “war-fighting support” facility. Jesus, I forgot about that term and the way you used to be able to hear my eyes roll when I would hear it.
When they’re talking about “old white guys in pickup trucks” here, these are the guys.
Betty Cracker
@germy: I know the name, but I’m not familiar with her work. I operate on the assumption that even reporters who personally lean Dem tend to “both-sides” coverage to such an extent that it amounts to a GOP bias.
@Tripod: Labor’s influence has been deliberately undermined for decades by industrialists such as the Kochs and their minions like Scott Walker, et al. Looks like the people who are getting screwed as a result will have to rediscover the reasons why their grandparents gave their political allegiance to the Democrats.
Kay
@germy:
I know this is my personal hobby horse but Democrats really do need to look at HOW they spend money.
This “more money spent = better” rule in politics is just insane. It benefits no one except the campaign industrial complex. Do something else other than buy ads. Anything else. They treat each campaign as if they’re lottery winners buying a fleet of cars. THINK about where the money goes.
efgoldman
@Kay:
Do you go outside and yell at clouds, too?
You’re probably right, but…..
Given that this is probably going to end up the most expensive house election in history, what would you spend it on?
amk
@efgoldman: The influence of teevee/radio ads on voters has been diminishing. I am with Kay on spending the money locally to recruit foot soldiers, strategists, canvassing in neighborhoods etc.
Shalimar
@gene108: For June, it means Ossoff is the heavy favorite now. It is more likely that some of the supporters of the other 3 Republicans don’t show up for Handel than that Ossoff’s supporters lose their enthusiasm for the candidate they already voted for. It is extremely rare for someone to get 48-49% of the vote in a primary and not win the run-off, and Handel only got 18% of the vote.
That said, every ad on Atlanta tv in the next 2 months is going to be anti-Ossoff. Everyone who voted for him yesterday needs to show up again in June, and try to get any friends who might support him to vote too.
Another Scott
@efgoldman: I wouldn’t spend it on e-mail-bombing people who have donated a couple of times, who don’t live in the district, who don’t even live in the state.
If e-mailing once a day doesn’t get a response, e-mailing 5 times an hour isn’t likely to be more effective…
(groucho-roll-eyes.gif)
Bootsonagound is where I would spend the money, starting 2+ weeks before absentee/early-voting, myself.
Cheers,
Scott.
rikyrah
How can you be disappointed with what happened in Georgia last night?
This is the equivalent of a Republican coming close to winning in Nancy Smash’s District.
Flip it like that, and realize what happened.
And, these are NOT R+1 districts here.
Keep the faith, people.
Elizabelle
@rikyrah: Your comment. It makes too much sense!
I agree. Peeps need to learn perspective, and when to celebrate and look for good things.
rikyrah
The best news for Democrats?
23 House Republicans currently hold districts where Clinton got more votes than Trump.
GA-6 wasn’t 1 of them.
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) April 19, 2017
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: Some of these naysayers are BS supporters, that’s what they do, shit on each and every Democratic effort.
rp
The results in the Kansas and Georgia special elections were remarkably consistent: Kansas’s 4th District had a 23 point swing (R+30 in November 2016 to R+7 in April 2017) and Georgia’s 6th District had a 22 point swing (R+23 in November 2016 to R+1 in April 2017).
amk
guachi
That’s a 22 point swing in a Congressional race with an incumbent.
If you look at GA-6 as a referendum on Trump then there was minimal change in voting. All Democrats received 49% of the vote in GA-6 last night. In 2016 Clinton received 46.8% of the vote.
Is 2.2% more of the vote really that good?
Spoiler Alert: No, it isn’t. The race is certainly winnable. But that’s because Democrats are starting from 46.8% and only need a bit more.
O. Felix Culpa
@TenguPhule: I won’t requote what you wrote, because I think your comments over these weeks have repeatedly crossed the line from snark (examples of acceptable humor: go DIAF or f**k the GOP with rusty farm implements) into detailed, brutal sadism that has no place in liberal, progressive or – simply put – ethical discourse.
I’ve been largely silent of late because busy, but I find the ongoing vicious imagery disturbing and more appropriate to fascist blogs. I appeal to you to rein it in. We agree in opposing the fascists; let’s not turn into thugs ourselves.
schrodingers_cat
@guachi: Yes its great news for John McCain.
amk
@guachi: Are you really comparing presidential polls with congressional polls?
clay
@guachi:
Considering a) the narrow margins of Trump’s “victory” (he won Wisconsin by 0.1%) , and b) the Republican House majority is largely based on carving out multiple narrow R+ districts while cramming Democratic voters into one large chunk, then YES. 2.2% is that good.
artem1s
other than winning outright, getting Handel as his opponent was the best outcome Ossoff could have hoped for. She has the Komen disaster in her past which will not sit well with people who want Ryan to stop fucking with their healthcare. She has run for multiple state wide offices and lost repeatedly. the one office she did win, she quit halfway thru to run for Governor, then she lost that. She is a terrible person, but the thing that will hurt her the most is she is a woman. The GOP’s native misogyny is going to work in our favor for once. I think it’s a mistake on her part to assume she is going to get all of Gray’s or the other GOP’s candidates votes. She is an egomaniac who destroyed a much beloved organization because she grossly miscalculated how donors and supporters would respond to her forced-birth witch hunt against Planned Parenthood. Hopefully she will be as full of herself as she always has been and rely solely on TV ads to promote her campaign. If she can’t be bothered to get a ground game together to convince those GOPers to flip her way in June, they just might likely stay at home out of spite. And even if she does go door to door, I don’t think that is going to work in her favor either.
Another Scott
I heard a bit about the coverage on “1A” on NPR this morning. The initial framing by the host almost made me want to throw things.
(roughly)
“… Ossoff didn’t win outright, so the Republicans will have plenty of time to prevent a Democratic takeover of the House in 2018…”
WTF!??!!!
Grr.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jacel
When the runoff is held in GA-6 in June, is there anything else on the ballot? That might change some of the turnout, as well as the likely absence of rain that day.
SWMBO
@Kay: I think you are misreading it. I think he has control over the FBI and the agents. This entire election went according to plan. He isn’t the neutral independent American cowboy he plays on tv and in Congress. He is a Republican operative who is very effective at his (true) job.
MaryLou
@Kay: By picking on Rice Repugs
get a twofer: racism plus misogyny! What’s not to like?