By Stephen Schrichfield
Democrat Jon Ossoff’s campaign for the House of Representatives in the Georgia special election seemed like a glimmer of light in an otherwise dark and destructive path of current American politics. As results slowly came in on Tuesday night, I wasn’t surprised. Riding the wave of anti-Trump sentiment, Ossoff knew the race would be tight and could go either way. I don’t view this as another internal loss for the Democrats but as an optimistic insight toward the 2018 midterms.
For political context, it’s always imperative to examine the history of the district. Georgia’s 6th Congressional District has securely been in Republican hands since the late 1970s and was once held by master rules manipulator Newt Gingrich. It’s located in the northern suburbs of Atlanta and is mostly white. Regardless of the candidate, the district would pose a grueling challenge for Democrats.
Ossoff is a documentary filmmaker as well as a former congressional staffer. He grew up in the district, then spent many years in Washington, D.C., so Republicans cast the 30-year-old as being out of touch with Georgia. When incumbent Tom Price was appointed by President Trump to serve as the head of Health and Human Services, Ossoff saw an opening in the special election to fill his seat. To side with his critics, and also not being from the South, I initially viewed Ossoff as out of place in the race. He wasn’t the middle-age, Southern Democrat businessman who I envisioned to have a fighting chance to win the district. I’ve followed the race since the blanket primary in April and just recently started to realize he’s a much stronger candidate than many, including me, once envisioned. Furthermore, Ossoff was able to pivot support from the black community, women, and young people — all groups he had to mobilize to achieve a competitive race. On the other hand, independents and moderate Republicans turned off by Trump were the voters he needed to lock-in to win.
It is well-known that this was the most expensive House race in history, and Ossoff raised contributions from all over the nation, more than $23 million by election day.
With scores of money raised and national support among Democrats, why did he lose? Some argue that not technically living in the district hurt him (true), progressive purists claimed he was too centrist on some issues, but the reality is he only lost because of one simple reason: Georgia. We are talking about Georgia. Georgia and the GOP go hand-in-hand like California and Democrats. It simply came down to the numbers. There were more conservatives and Republicans than Democrats, and undecideds only made up for a small number of voters.
The fact of the matter is if a 30-year-old geek who didn’t even live in the district can lose to a career Georgia politician, Karen Handel, by around 10,000 votes in deep red Georgia, then anything is possible in 2018. In the meantime, Democrats need to focus on winning back working-class voters in states such as Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania as well as discovering new ways to mobilize young voters who are attracted to grass-roots candidates. Finding a cohesive party narrative is also crucial. Races such as Ossoff’s, competitive seats that have been held by the GOP for years, need to be a focus. Whether it be the Texas 7th, Minnesota’s 3rd, or Colorado’s 6th, many of these districts can be flipped. All that is needed are strong candidates and a united party.