Jim Geraghty:
Look, it stinks to work hard, actually get active and volunteer to drive people to the polls, and perform pretty well… and fall just short of your goals. Did Democrat Jon Ossoff do well? Sure, getting 48.1 percent is nothing to sneeze at. The problem is that this means the race goes to a runoff between Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel, and unless a lot of supporters of other GOP candidates stay home, the odds are good that Handel will win the runoff. A longtime GOP-held House seat, consisting of Atlanta suburbs that weren’t particularly enamored with Donald Trump, will likely remain Republican, and the status quo will continue.
Ossoff also had a huge fundraising advantage that he’s not likely to enjoy again, and that few candidates anywhere ever get to enjoy: more than $8 million, quadruple the next-closest contender. Not many Democratic House candidates get Samuel L. Jackson making radio ads for them, either, declaring, “We have to channel the great vengeance and furious anger we have for this administration into votes at the ballot box.” That’s nice. Democrats kind-of, sort-of did. But… Hillary Clinton won 47 percent in this district on Election Day 2016, and Ossoff won 48 percent.
In all likelihood, furious Democrats donated $8 million to Ossoff to win a “moral victory.” Milano’s understandable nausea comes from Democrats’ genuine hopes that Ossoff could win 50 percent in the jungle primary and win outright, an outcome that appeared plausible in the early returns of the evening, influenced heavily by Democrat-heavy early voting, and that slipped out of reach as the more Republican-heavy Election Day returns were added to the total.
As Jeff Ditzler put it, “Ossoff leading all night, then fading at the end might help in the runoff. Atlanta Falcon fans will be able to relate to that.”
You could almost feel the “what it all means” essays being furiously rewritten as the results shifted to a runoff and likely GOP victory June 20. There was a narrative of backlash, the Resistance and the Democratic comeback, all ready to go… but the voters in the district missed that memo and loused it all up by voting more or less the same way they did in November.
Progressive leaders put the evening’s results in the best possible light. Adam Green, co-founder, Progressive Change Campaign Committee declared in a statement, “Jon Ossoff’s first-place finish in ruby-red Georgia shows the huge opportunities for progressive candidates across the country — from Tom Perriello for Governor in Virginia to Rob Quist for Congress in Montana.” Yes, there are indeed opportunities. But opportunities for victory are not the same as actual victories.
Last night, David Freedlander observed that the allegedly newly-energized Democrats have fallen short in the three Congressional races since Election Day 2016: the Louisiana Senate runoff, the Kansas special House election, and last night’s special House election in Georgia. I pointed out that none of those were particularly friendly territory for Democrats – and neither are the other remaining special House elections for this year, in Montana’s at-large district and South Carolina’s fifth district. (The record is a little more mixed in the handful of special state legislative elections so far this year, but it’s a stretch to argue that these little-noticed races represent early referendums on the president.)
He reminded me about Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts, undoubtedly a Republican upset for the ages. But it’s probably worthwhile to think back to all the special elections in that cycle where Republicans thought they might have a shot and fell short: Scott Murphy beating Jim Tedisco in New York, John Garamendi beating David Harmer in California, Bill Owens beating Doug Hoffman in New York, Ted Deutch beating Ed Lynch in Florida, Mark Critz beating Tim Burns in Pennsylvania… Looking at those special elections, you would have thought Democrats were in “good enough” shape for the 2010 midterms. Then in May 2010, Charles Djou won a seat in Hawaii that Republicans would ordinarily never win, and the signs of a GOP wave started to build. Are special elections early indicators of what’s going to happen in the next major election? Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren’t.
I’m glad it turned out like it did, even that there were so many Republicans all running.
Back in the day when the globalist-GOPe (uniparty) was in charge of the entire RNC, all of their non-GOPe uniparty opponents would have been forced out of the race.
The only two options left for voters would have been a globalist Dem or a globalist GOPe.
I haven’t looked into the views of the lady who will run off against Ossoff, but still it was a better play than forcing a card on the voters.
Hopefully, if she wins, she will work with President Trump.
Just say no to the globalists and no to the World Community idiots get us out of the Useless Nations and get the Useless Nation out of the U.S of A no m ore World Herratage Sites and no no Biosphear Reserves
A problem with the Democrat campaign of hate is that liberals LIKE to hate and don’t necessarily want to vote for a cure for hate. Vote for someone that will hurt someone else… yes. But vote to eliminate the person that represents their hate? Yawn.
The 2nd place finisher only got 18% of the vote–to go from 18-51 is gonna be a lot harder than going from 48-51
The 48 is solid and will be back–my guess is many of the 34% losers won’t be back–some will back the Dem.
Final Dem 52 Repub 48—Total turnout down 10%
$8.3 million to get 92,390 votes.
That’s $90 per vote.
Hollywood was his biggest donor.
How much will Hollywood sink into his probable loss in the run off?
Here’s the important point:
Only 193,483 were cast in the primary.
(43.47 percent voter turnout)
Georgia is a bright red state so lots of Republicans sat home.
Basically, every Dem who could be bought already voted.
There are no more Dems sitting home waiting for their goodie bags.
Ossoff is going down.
@Rich Wheeler:
They were ‘back’ and even with the Repubs many candidates vs only one, he couldn’t pull it out. Everyone that voted Repub didn’t want the Dim to win, they still don’t. More Repubs will show up to vote in a two person race. He’s doomed.