Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
By: Nick Wooten
A chorus of car horns sounded as Democrat Jon Ossoff told his supporters that retirement is coming for incumbent Sen. David Perdue ahead of a January runoff that could give Democrats control of the U.S. Senate.
“We are living at a moment of change,” Ossoff said in the Columbus Civic Center parking lot. “Change has come to Georgia. … We have work to do together.”
When Ossoff visited Columbus less than a week before Election Day, a Democrat hadn’t won a presidential contest in Georgia since 1992 and state voters last elected a Democratic U.S. Senator in 2000.
The Nov. 3 election changed that pattern, putting Georgia in the national spotlight as votes were counted and runoffs were forced in two pivotal Senate races. A swell of young voters will likely hand President-Elect Joe Biden his only Deep South electoral victory. A by-hand recount of the state’s presidential racewill take place before Georgia certifies its election results Nov. 20.
But the runoffs are key to determine who will have control of the U.S. Senate. In the other Senate runoff, Sen. Kelly Loeffler, the Republican, faces the Rev. Raphael Warnock, the Democrat.
“To do these things, we need the United States Senate, and that means we gotta win these two Senate races y’all,” Ossoff said.
‘Where was Sen. Perdue?’
Ossoff is in the middle of a four-day, statewide tour that takes him through Atlanta and the state’s mid-sized, second-tier cities of Albany, Athens, Augusta, Columbus, Macon and Savannah in an effort to keep voters energized.
Ossoff delivered a 12-minute speech during his Columbus stop Wednesday evening, spending portions of his time attacking Perdue for failing to appear in public and take questions from voters.
“Has anyone seen David?” Ossoff said. “They had a rally in Atlanta today. They packed everybody into this little tiny room as if we’re not living in the midst of the pandemic. … I saw Sen. Kelly Loeffler, but where was Sen. Perdue? It’s eight days since the election, Senator. The people of Georgia deserve to hear from their senator.”
Ossoff also stressed the importance of improving housing at Fort Benning, improving resources at Georgia’s rural hospitals, investing in new health clinics, expanding Medicaid and protecting abortion rights under Roe V. Wade.
Slim vote margins
While Biden leads Donald Trump by more than 14,000 votes in Georgia, Ossoff trailed Perdue by nearly 87,000.
Officials at the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office said an initial examination of ballots showed a lot of “ticket-splitting.” While some voters rejected Trump, they still voted for Republican incumbents such as Perdue or Loeffler.
“That doesn’t worry me at all,” Ossoff said. “People weren’t coming out because they love David Perdue or Kelly Loeffler.”
Young voters were an important aspect of Democratic successes in Georgia. A study by researchers at Tufts University shows voters ages 18 to 29 contributed21% of all votes in Georgia, the highest share of any state in the country. Biden won that group, 57% to Trump’s 39%.
Kalin Tate, a 24-year-old who attended Wednesday’s drive-in rally, said social media will play a key role in getting young voters to cast ballots again in the runoffs.
“We’re sitting on Instagram. We’re sitting on Twitter, and we’re seeing people talk about what’s going on,” Tate said. “I saw a tweet the other day about Kelly Loeffler — something I didn’t even know. And that just ignited me more to not vote for her in January.”
