I know I speak for many across the country in sending the following message to any and all Democratic candidates for the special House seat election in Georgia’s 6th District:
If your name is NOT Jon Ossoff, please withdraw.
The above chart tracks polling of all candidates in this critical race to fill the seat vacated by the odious nomination of Tom Price to serve as insider trader in chief and head of Health and Human Services.
The current Democratic candidates are:
Democratic Ragin Edwards[15]Richard Keatley - Former U.S. Navy officer[16] Jon Ossoff - Managing director and CEO of Insights TWI[17] Rebecca Quigg - Doctor[7] Ron Slotin - Former state sen.[18] |
A check of the chart shows that as of late March, Ossoff’s closest opponent is Karen Handel of the GOP who has about half the support he does in a crowded field of GOP candidates. Of his Democratic opponents, only Slotin even shows up on the above chart.
But if all non-Ossoff Dems withdrew in a gesture of party unity and in recognition of the unique and critical nature of this election as a major signal, it would obviously enhance Ossoff’s chances and further concentrate the fund raising so critical to victory.
Overall Ossoff has raised nearly $4.5 million as of March….a significant edge over all other candidates. In this race, he will need everything he can get because it is already clear the GOP is gearing up to try and weaken him via negative advertising.
You can make your own contribution here
The critical issue is this: If Ossoff can manage to win an outright majority April 18th, he will be the outright winner of the seat and send a major tsunami through the GOP. This seat has long been held by Republicans including Newt Gingrich and most recently Price, whose last election gave him a nearly two-thirds victory margin.
But Trump only narrowly carried the district last fall and many see this seat as a potential indicator of Democrats potential organization and resurgence against Republicans. Head to head polls show that Handel and Ossoff are nearly dead even.
BUT, an outright Ossoff win NOW would possibly have its largest impact Republicans as they consider the nuclear option for the nomination of Neal Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
It would remind Mitch McConnell and the GOP that if they go nuclear, they may still have the votes to replace a conservative with a conservative this time on the bench this time, but what if an Ossoff win starts them thinking about what would happen if it is a signal of a major Dem comeback in 2018?
Are there enough of the old GOP bulls in the Senate who favor tradition over immediate partisan politics? It only would take a few.
Who knows. But an outright Ossoff win on the 18th would be its own “nuclear option.” That is why I would implore the other Democratic entrants in this race to gracefully withdraw now and help give Jon whatever edge he can get in this important battle.