Democrats Put Hope In Young Candidate For Price’s Seat

John Bazemore / Associated Press

The race for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District is attracting national attention. The Democratic front-runner for this historically Republican seat is making headlines for the funds he’s been able to raise.

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The latest development in the race is an ad targeting Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff. A Republican political action committee is running two spots showing Ossoff dressed up as Han Solo from Star Wars while he was in college.

“Jon Ossoff, not honest, not serious, not ready. Sorry Johnny, but the truth strikes back,” says the ad’s narrator.

The Democrat’s run, and the nearly $2 million he’s raised so far, has  been written up in the Washington Post and Politico. The Daily Beast’s headline on Ossoff was “Could the Resistance Start with Georgia’s Special Election.”

“Democrats are pinning their hopes on picking up a seat in a special election that they  can blitz and use some anti-Trump emotion and get some national money in and field a competitive candidate,” said Kevin Swint, who chairs the political science department at Kennesaw State University.

He said the money Ossoff has raised so far is definitely impressive.

“The problem is the numbers for Democrats in that district just aren’t there yet,” Swint said.

The idea of turning Republican Tom Price’s former district blue fits into a hopeful Democratic narrative of Georgia’s changing demographics eventually turning the state purple, he said. But those changes are something that could take another decade.

Even if Ossoff makes it to a runoff with a GOP candidate, Swint said, the odds are just not in his favor.