POLITICS/JON OSSOFF: “Jon Ossoff, a Democrat making his first bid for elective office, narrowly missed winning outright in a heavily conservative House district in Georgia on Wednesday [4-19-17], throwing a scare into Republicans in a special congressional election that was seen as an early referendum on President Trump.
Mr. Ossoff received 48.1 percent of the vote, just short of the 50 percent threshold needed to win the seat, and he will face Karen Handel, the top Republican vote-getter, in a June runoff.
A documentary filmmaker and former congressional staff member, Mr. Ossoff, 30, had hoped to avert a runoff in the Sixth District, a Republican-dominated section of the Atlanta suburbs that had been represented by Tom Price, who is now Mr. Trump’s health and human services secretary. But despite his financial advantage — Mr. Ossoff had raised $8.3 million, more than quadruple that of the next-closest candidate — and a highly energized liberal base, a majority was just out of reach in a district that has not sent a Democrat to Congress since the Carter administration.
Mr. Ossoff released a statement early Wednesday after the race was called.
‘This is already a remarkable victory,’ he said. ‘We defied the odds, shattered expectations, and now are ready to fight on and win in June.’ “
-Johnathan Martin and Richard Fausset, “Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, Narrowly Misses Outright Win in Georgia House Race,” The New York Times online, April 19, 2017