Ossoff wins Georgia Senate primary, will face Perdue in general election
Democrat Jon Ossoff has won the nomination to take on Republican Sen. David Perdue in Georgia, The Associated Press projected late Wednesday.
Ossoff had 51 percent of the vote when the AP called the race with more than 888,000 votes counted, narrowly topping the 50 percent threshold necessary to avoid a runoff. His closest rival, former Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson, had 15 percent.
The race was called the day after Tuesday’s primary, which was marred by long lines and significant issues with in-person voting, particularly in the Atlanta area, which drew condemnation from all of the candidates and other Georgia Democrats. Ossoff’s strength in those counties helped him avoid a runoff by narrowly earning a majority in the race after he was below the necessary threshold Tuesday night.
Georgia has not been viewed as a top-tier Senate race, with no outside spending so far compared to millions spent in other races, and neither party having yet booked TV ad time for the fall. But the state is an emerging battleground in the presidential contest, and recent public and internal Republican polling has shown the state to be competitive.
Georgia’s other Senate seat is also on the ballot this fall, though there was no primary Tuesday; the special election is an all-candidate contest in November.
Ossoff is best known for losing the most expensive House race in history: a special election in 2017, months after President Donald Trump's inauguration. In that race, Ossoff won 48 percent of the vote in an April 2017 special election, just shy of a majority against a splintered GOP field in a suburban Atlanta district that was once solid Republican territory. In a runoff two months later, Republican Karen Handel edged Ossoff.
Ahead of Tuesday’s race, Ossoff outraised and outspent Tomlinson, the former Columbus mayor, and Sarah Riggs Amico, who was the party’s 2018 nominee for lieutenant governor. His fundraising, which largely stemmed from the small-dollar donor list he built during his record-breaking run in 2017, gave him a significant financial edge in the primary, and his campaign more than doubled his competitors in TV spending.
Perdue starts the general election with a massive financial edge. He had $9.4 million in the bank as of May 20, compared to $950,000 for Ossoff. But Ossoff’s outright victory Tuesday lets him avoid an eight-week runoff that would have further prevented him from consolidating the party’s support and turning his focus to Perdue in the fall.
