Flip this seat! Special election to replace Trump's anti-Obamacare health chief is huge opportunity

David Nir for Daily Kos Elections

Daily Kos Staff

Thursday January 26, 2017 · 8:33 AM PST

2017/01/26 · 08:33

Jon Ossoff (second from left) with Rep. John Lewis (far left) — Jon Ossoff (second from left) links arms with Rep. John Lewis (far left) and Rep. Hank Johnson at the Women's March in Atlanta (Jan. 21, 2017).

No one wants to wait until 2018—or 2020—to fight back against Donald Trump. The good news is, we don’t have to.

Daily Kos is excited to announce that we’re endorsing investigative filmmaker Jon Ossoff, a Democrat running in this year’s first competitive special election for the House, down in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District. In addition to making documentaries that have exposed crime and corruption worldwide, Ossoff is also a former congressional staffer, and you’re going to like hearing who he used to work with: none other than Rep. John Lewis, civil rights legend and Trump antagonist number one.

Even better, Lewis endorsed Ossoff when he launched his bid earlier this month, and we’re only too pleased to follow suit. Ossoff has put together by far the most impressive campaign of any Democrat running, and one rival already dropped out and gave his backing to Ossoff, calling him the front-runner. With Lewis leading the way, Rep. Hank Johnson adding in his support, and Georgia Democrats rallying behind Ossoff, it’s time for us to get involved, too.

Now, for a little background on this race, which is taking place in suburban Atlanta. The 6th District is about to become vacant because servile Senate Republicans will prove only too happy to confirm Rep. Tom Price as Trump’s Health and Human Services director: Price may be mired in insider trading allegations, but his zeal for destroying Obamacare is all that matters to the GOP.

But while Price might love him some Trump, his district doesn’t feel the same way. In fact, the 6th saw a remarkable shift on election night. Four years ago, voters in this conservative but well-educated area supported Mitt Romney by a wide 61-37 margin. In 2016, however, hostility toward Trump gave the president just a 48-47 win—a stunning 23-point collapse. That dramatic change in attitudes means this seat might just be in play.

Please give $3 to Jon Ossoff today to help him beat the GOP and fight the Trump agenda.

It’ll be extremely difficult, though, since old habits die hard, and folks in this district are used to voting for Republicans downballot. But Trump makes politics very unpredictable, and we have to be prepared to capitalize on any backlash he might stoke—and boy is he good at that. What’s more, a Trump acolyte (his campaign’s “diversity co-ordinator,” if you can believe such a thing existed) is likely to run for the GOP, so we could indeed wind up with Trump on the ballot by proxy.

It’s also critical we unite behind Ossoff now because of the unusual way this special election will be conducted. All candidates from all parties will run together on a single ballot, with the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advancing to a runoff if, as is likely, no one takes a majority. There are currently two other Democrats running, so if Team Blue splits the vote in the first round, we could get completely locked out of the runoff, forfeiting our chance to pick up a GOP-held seat. That’s a nightmare we can’t afford.

A date for the special election hasn’t yet been set, but it’ll be soon, possibly as early as April, so we can’t delay—the time to take action is now. And how amazing would it be to win a seat held by a member of Trump’s cabinet? The message would be resounding.

Please give $3 to Jon Ossoff today to help him beat the GOP and fight the Trump agenda.

Flip this seat! Special election to replace Trump's anti-Obamacare health chief is huge opportunity

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