ATLANTA — Jon Ossoff, a young Georgia media executive known for breaking fundraising records during a 2017 special election loss for a U.S. House seat, beat back a field of Democratic primary opponents to win a spot taking on Republican Sen. David Perdue in November.
Ossoff received about 50.7% of the votes, according to votes tallied as of Wednesday night. He had maintained a steady lead in public polling and fundraising despite some significant competition from former Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson and 2018 candidate for lieutenant governor Sarah Riggs Amico.
[LIVE: Georgia Primary Election Results 2020]
Perdue said he’s ready for a bruising campaign before all the votes were counted Wednesday.
“Whoever’s their candidate, we’re going to ask them the tough questions, and they’re going to have to deal with this socialist agenda that the left is trying to perpetrate in so many ways,” Perdue said.
In his livestreamed victory speech Wednesday night, Ossoff took immediate aim at his opponent’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying Perdue was “too busy adjusting his stock portfolio to warn us of the gravest public health emergency in a century.” A Perdue spokeswoman has previously said the senator “goes above and beyond to fully comply with the law.”
[Ossoff says he was appalled by the voting issues Tuesday and will work to make sure each vote counts]
“This is not a moment to let up — this is a moment to double down,” Ossoff said. “The president of the United States and his allies in Congress are leading this country down a dark path and we can go down this path no longer. We can no longer go down a path of authoritarianism, of racism, of corruption. We are better than this and Georgia is better than this.”
[PHOTOS: Voters wait in long lines to cast ballot in Georgia primary]
Ossoff, 33, entered the race in September with the endorsement of civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, as well as some built-in name recognition from his highly publicized special election loss to Republican Karen Handel for an Atlanta-area U.S. House seat in 2017.
The CEO of a company that produces investigative reports on crime and corruption for news organizations, Ossoff has made fighting inequality and corruption a core part of his message.
Ossoff’s opponents often took aim at his lack of experience in elected office, with Tomlinson proclaiming that she was “the only one in this race who has ever won an election and governed.” But those attacks seemed to have little effect.
“Jon Ossoff is a fighter against Washington corruption and a champion for hardworking Georgia families, and is going to be an excellent U.S. Senator,” Democratic Party of Georgia Chairwoman Nikema Williams said in a statement Wednesday night. “His work uncovering corruption and investigating war crimes demonstrates his commitment to fighting for justice, and his grassroots support across the state shows that he is ready to win this November.”
Perdue, a close Trump ally seeking a second term in November, drew no GOP primary opposition. Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia is also defending the seat she was recently appointed to in a separate race that won’t be filtered by primaries.
Ossoff’s campaign often looked past his primary opponents in favor of going directly after Perdue, who he has bashed as one of Trump’s “most loyal servants in the Senate." In a preview of the race to come, Perdue campaign manager Ben Fry took aim at Ossoff in a statement Wednesday night, saying his “only notable achievement is spending millions of dollars on his failed Congressional bid.”
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report
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