You guys blew through my initial fundraising goal for Jon Ossoff in GA-6 so I made a new one. He’s leading the jungle primary by a wide margin at 41%.
Update. My thermometer-fu is weak but this should update to the new goal of $7500 eventually.
Reader Interactions
25Comments
Comments are closed.
JPL
Just saw this
New GA-6 poll has Ossoff at 41, Gray and Handel close for 2nd at 16. Big wow: all GOP folks combined at just 48%.
link
With so many running, it’s possible that republican turnout will be low. There’s a theory that the real election will be June 20th… the runoff. Dem turnout is key.
germy
@JPL:
If the events of November 8th to today aren’t enough to motive Dems, then nothing is.
I’m hoping to see record-breaking voting numbers. I want people who’ve never voted in their lives to register and get involved. And I’m hoping there’s more than enough pushback against voter suppression efforts.
tobie
Would it be possible for Ossoff to get 50% if the other two Democratic contenders stepped down and threw their support to him? I know it sucks to give up on a run you may have worked years for but we’re in an emergency situation in the country. If Ossoff can cross 50% in the first round, there doesn’t have to be a second round of voting.
JPL
@germy: My son is in the process of moving into Jon’s district, so he already changed his license, ordered a name change for utilities, and registered. He actually doesn’t move until the 7th of April. Both my sons, dil, and I are ready to vote for Jon.
JPL
@tobie: That’s what I hoping, but the dems appear to be standing pat. I’m hoping that the repubs are planning on staying home until the runoff. Yeah, I’m a dreamer.
Doug!
@tobie:
Good question.
tobie
@JPL: @Doug!: Maybe things will look different after today’s hearings. Democrats are asking tough questions about Russian collusion with the Trump campaign, and the Republicans are making no bones about the fact that they want to punish whistleblowers and make the whole investigation go away. It’s hard to see how this generates enthusiasm among Republicans, even if it doesn’t swing them to the Dems.
JPL
@tobie: Maybe Jon will point out, that republicans are concerned about leaks NOW, not during the campaign.
Russia first
Major Major Major Major
@tobie:
Probably, but when have we ever made things easy for ourselves?
artem1s
UGH! I just found out one of the GOP candidates in this race is the odious tool who killed Komen because she tried to cut off Komen dollars going to PP clinics. There has to be a way to get this info to GA voters. This woman is pretty much hated by the breast cancer support community. If we can get them to turn out against Handel then Ossoff really has a chance.
http://www.politico.com/story/2012/02/karen-handel-komen-official-resigns-after-planned-parenthood-dispute-072550
JPL
@Major Major Major Major: If the poll above is correct, you might be right.
Turnout is key.
Mary G
@artem1s: She’s awful and I hope she comes in last.
I gave through your ActBlue, Doug, and Ossoff’s campaign has deluged me with emails ever since. They are terrible looking, like early 90s websites, and have a ton of underlining and bold and text that flashes off and on. I still hope he wins, but they are annoying. Now that Artemis has said Karen Handel is running, I don’t have as much of a problem with it.
FlipYrWhig
I gave to Ossoff through the DCCC, which YES I KNOW GO DIRECT TO THE CANDIDATE BLAH BLAH but I liked that they were making a pitch for the importance of a strong showing in special elections.
John M. Burt
My sweetie says, “Turnout is always the key”.
Ain’t it just, though?
J R in WV
I started a weekly contribution to this campaign when it was first mentioned as a take-away possibility. Can’t do more.
Used the unsubscribe to stop the flood of additional begging letters. That must be counter productive with folks who are regular contributors. I know it is with me, but at least the unsubscribe works.
Dunwoody Housewife
I live in the district and I went door-to-door for his campaign yesterday–our team of 4 knocked on 70 doors. We only got maybe 1 out of 5 people to answer the door, but most had heard of him and a couple were definitely voting for him. There were 60-70 volunteers going out from the Chamblee office at 3 pm shift (there was one earlier at 1 pm). He also has 2 other offices in the district and is really focused on personal contact.
It’s going to be an uphill slog because this is a wealthy, conservative suburban district (lots of country-club republicans). But there are so many pissed off women–I live in conservative Dunwoody and we have 70+ people in our huddle group from the Women’s march. And young people are getting involved and scared and mad minorities are mobilized. People are volunteering in the local democratic party–we had no one in the county structure in our state house district before the election (the Republicans usually run unopposed) and now we have a captain and all the poll positions being filled. We are working on candidate recruitment for 2018. So maybe the one good thing that will happen from the election of the cheeto-faced shitgibbon is to help rebuild local offices. And it’s been so wonderful to find neighbors who are progressive too. We’re coming out of the closet ;-)
I’m mostly a lurker here, but thought y’all might appreciate some perspective from this district.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Very much so, speaking for myself. Do you know anything about the other Dems? I’m just curious.
evap
@Dunwoody Housewife: Great news DH! I live in district 5 and am watching the race (and donating). My brother is in the process of moving within Atlanta and thinks he might be moving into district 6. He said he has seen a ton of Ossoff signs near his new house, and none for other candidates.
The AJC has an article this morning about the GOP and other Dem. candidates going after Ossoff. I think the GOP is scared that they might lose in a usually safe Republican district.
artem1s
@Mary G: I agree. His fundraising emails do look a little internet primitive. But who knows, maybe that’s what sells in GA? I’m trying to get PP, NARAL and Emily’s List to put their considerable PR skills and email lists behind defeating Handel. They managed to get her fired so who knows? While the most odious forced-birth anti-choice voter won’t come over to Ossoff, there are plenty of donors, volunteers and families who worked their butts off for Komen who might cross party lines to make sure Handel comes no where near a Senate seat.
SWMBO
@Dunwoody Housewife: Is there any way to find out about Meals on Wheels recipients in the district? Any way of matching names with registrations to build a voter list? Small town conservative Repubs may be persuadable if their personal ox is getting gored. These people would need help getting a ballot and getting it in on time. Nursing homes with patients that aren’t ambulatory might be a good place to ask. These people will be out of luck if they cut Medicaid/Medicare funding for their facility. Every damn thing now is personal.
Steve in the ATL
@evap:
That’s curious. I live in Johns Creek, and I see signs for a half dozen of the R candidates, and none for Ossoff or the other D’s.
bystander
It seems to me that now is the time to press people into voter registration procedures. Work out the kinks (as best one can) now.
tobie
@Dunwoody Housewife: Thanks for piping up! Good luck with the canvassing. Sounds like there’s a lot of good local organizing. As someone who lives in a very red district, I know how good it feels to meet progressives in the neighborhood.
Gretchen
Don’t forget James Thompson, Kansas progressive running for Mike Pompeo’s seat. He held two more debates this weekend against the libertarian and Brownback buddy Ron Estes’ empty chair: http://www.votejamesthompson.com
Dunwoody Housewife
Jim–of the other D candidates, the only one with some traction is Ron Slotin (“Votin for Slotin”) He’s a local business man, kind of the Tim Kaine “dad” candidate. He isn’t as polished as Ossoff–I saw them both at a forum in Sandy Springs. Slotin has been in the Ga legislature until he ran against Cynthia McKinney for US rep 10 or so years ago, so he has some recognition in this area. Unfortunately, I think he’ll pull votes that would otherwise go to Ossoff. He got a little snippy at the forum (which was not supposed to be a debate) and was aggressive towards Jon. I think he’s probably a little miffed that this young upstart came into his district and got so much money and wind at his back. Shades of Obama and Hillary in 2008 ;-) I told my friend on the way home from the forum that Ossoff is like a young, white Obama ;-) They have similar speaking cadence.
Also there is a little stink because Ossoff doesn’t technically live in the 6th district–he is 10 minutes over the line. He grew up in this area. His parents live in Sandy Springs. But his gf/fiance–not sure–is in residency as OB/GYN at Emory Univ and she wanted to be able to walk to 5am shifts at hospital. But he promised to move and I think that is more genuine than renting an apt in the area a few months ago as some suggested he should have done. I think the R’s will make a big deal of it in the runoff.
In Dunwoody, there are signs for both Slotin and Ossoff in the neighborhoods I drive through, but not a lot of Repub. I had to drive to East Cobb recently–whiter and more conservative–and there were no Dem signs (at least not on main roads). And John’s Creek is probably similar to East Cobb. There are a lot of appts and condos that we are going to–more like to be young or a minority. The list we work off is from the campaign, but I think they get it from Dem primary voter lists. So we were knocking on Dem voter doors. Also there is a 6th District Task Force that is doing get out the vote (the district spans 3 counties–Cobb/Fulton/Dekalb) so it’s a combo of effort from the three county Dem parties. There really is a lot of effort and excitement. I feel like Ossoff will get to the runoff, but that worries me too. Runoff is June 20 so summer vacation, college students are gone, kids are out of school–it’s going to be hard to get our voters out for the runoff.
Artim1s–Karen Handel has the most name recognition in the area on repub side, but I can’t stand her so I think she would be the best opponent in a run-off–she turned off a lot of women with the Komen thing. The R’s I know in this district are mostly chamber of commerce type–they were so appalled by Trump, a lot voted for Hillary or left if blank. They are “rich” and think they “pay too much in taxes”. But they do not want to see Roe overturned. They’re religious but not evangelical. I don’t think they switch to Ossoff but maybe they won’t bother to vote if she is the candidate.
John Marshall at TPM observed a while back that the 6th district is a long shot for Dem. BUT if Ossoff does well in this 60R/40D district, Democratic party every where will be able to recruit better candidates. Our Repub state representative (Ga 79–Tom Taylor) got a DUI a few months before the election but there was no Democrat running against him. So he won. Link to the story:
http://www.myajc.com/news/local/bill-torpy-large-kids-and-high-speed-dui/NjcjtkXXUR9bG3FMDjZyOI/