In Georgia, a Democrat's 'Make Trump
Furious' campaign rattles Republicans
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[April 10, 2017]
By John Whitesides
SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. (Reuters) - After the
crushing electoral losses that swept Donald Trump into the White House
and sealed Republican control of the U.S. Congress, the Democrats' road
to recovery winds through the leafy, well-heeled suburbs of north
Atlanta.
Here, Democrats are threatening a stunning special election upset that
could signal how well the party can turn Trump's low approval ratings
into political gains. And they appear to have an ally in the April 18
vote: Trump himself.
In the most-watched congressional race so far in the Trump era, a wave
of grassroots anti-Trump fervor has positioned Democrat Jon Ossoff, a
30-year-old political newcomer, to possibly capture a House of
Representatives seat held by Republicans for decades, one of 24 seats
Democrats need nationwide to reclaim the House.
"The grassroots intensity here is electric, and it’s because folks are
concerned that what is happening in Washington doesn’t represent our
values," Ossoff said in an interview. "This is a chance for this
community to stand up and make a statement about what we believe."
With Democrats desperate for signs of hope after Hillary Clinton's loss
to Trump, Ossoff's underdog "Make Trump Furious" campaign has endeared
him to national anti-Trump activists and pushed him well ahead of 17
rivals in polls. The documentary filmmaker and former congressional aide
raised a jaw-dropping $8.3 million in the first quarter, his campaign
said.
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"I've never seen the Democrats around here so engaged, and it's Donald
Trump who got us so engaged," said Carolyn Hadaway, 77, a veteran party
activist and retired software engineer from Marietta, a city of about
60,000 people in Georgia’s central Cobb County.
Georgia would seem an unlikely venue for a Democratic revival. Trump won
it by about 5 percentage points in November. And its voters backed
Republican nominees in eight of the last nine presidential contests,
including the last six in a row.
But demographic changes are brewing. Growing minority communities and
transplants from other regions have made Atlanta's suburbs increasingly
competitive for Democrats. Georgia’s sixth congressional district, the
location for April’s special election, exemplifies changes common in
booming southern cities like Atlanta, Charlotte and Nashville.
The district is white collar, educated and doing well economically, with
median household incomes of $80,000 versus $50,000 statewide, and nearly
60 percent of adults holding a college or professional degree, more than
twice the statewide average. It is also increasingly diverse, and in
recent years became a magnet for well-educated immigrants from India and
other parts of Asia.
The district was about 80 percent white at the turn of the century. But
since then, the black share of the population has grown from 10 percent
to 13 percent, the Hispanic share has doubled to 12.5 percent and Asian
representation doubled to more than 10 percent.
About a fifth of the district is now foreign born – twice the statewide
average, according to census data.
Though newer immigrants may not be eligible to vote, census data
indicate more than 40 percent are naturalized citizens, potentially
bringing a different set of views on issues like immigration to the
table than the voters in this district who sent Trump adviser and former
speaker of the House Newt Gingrich to Congress for 10 straight terms.
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April’s special election fills the seat vacated by Tom Price, the new
secretary of health and human services. It gives both parties a chance
to test their messages for election battles next year in suburban
districts where Democrats need to make inroads and where Trump's
populist economic message did not sell well in November.
While Price sailed to re-election with 62 percent of the vote, Trump
barely beat Clinton in Georgia's sixth district by one percentage point.
In 2012, Republican Mitt Romney beat Democratic President Barack Obama
in the district by 23 points.
‘JUMP OVER A CLIFF’
Republican candidates nationwide will closely watch the result as they
calculate whether to embrace the president.
The 11 Republicans in the race have split between those who portray
themselves as Trump supporters and establishment candidates who keep a
respectful and sometimes wary distance.
"I'm ready to support him," former state senator Dan Moody, who was
endorsed by U.S. Senator David Perdue, said of Trump in an interview.
But "I'm not going to jump over a cliff with him."
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![](../images/041017pics/news_x35.jpg)
Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff speaks during the League of Women
Voters' candidate forum for Georgia's 6th Congressional District
special election to replace Tom Price, who is now the secretary of
Health and Human Services, in Marietta, Georgia, U.S. April 3, 2017.
REUTERS/Bita Honarvar
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Grassroots Democratic groups flood the district's tidy suburban
neighborhoods on the weekends, busing in volunteers from as far away
as Maryland to go door to door on Ossoff's behalf.
The Ossoff momentum worries Republicans, say party officials, and
outside help has arrived. A super PAC aligned with House Republican
leaders put more than $2 million into ads painting Ossoff as too
young and inexperienced.
Ossoff played down the strategic value of a possible upset.
"The national implications here will be about how this affects the
political calculus for folks in the Republican conference in the
House, not about how Democrats are supposed to run in the midterms,"
he said.
‘CONCERN, NOT PANIC’
In a low turnout special election, getting supporters to the polls
is vital, and Democrats have voted early in greater numbers than
Republicans so far.
"We aren't panicking, but there is concern," said Maggie Holliman, a
member of the Republican state executive committee.
Ossoff's best chance is to win the April 18 vote, a "jungle primary"
that features all 18 candidates from both parties on the same
ballot. If no one reaches 50 percent, the top two vote getters
square off on June 20.
Republicans are confident they can win a one-on-one race with
Ossoff, as the party unites with organizational and financial help
pouring into the Republican-majority district.
"There is a chance Ossoff can win without a runoff, but that's his
only chance. He's benefiting from unified Democratic support and
Republicans being highly divided," said Georgia-based Republican
strategist Joel McElhannon.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Apr/10/images/ads/current/beason_ag_sda_030614.png)
Polls show Ossoff hovering in the low 40s, not enough to avoid a
runoff. The leading Republican, former Secretary of State Karen
Handel, is well behind.
Handel has been cautious in talking about Trump. She said in an
interview she expected to work with him on issues such as tax reform
and border security, but "first and foremost" she would be a
conservative advocate for her district.
By contrast Republicans Bob Gray, a local business executive, and
Bruce LeVell, head of Trump's national diversity coalition, pledge
undivided loyalty to the White House. Gray said he was the
Republican in the race who performed the behind-the-scenes political
groundwork for Trump in the district.
LeVell pulled out his cellphone and showed a reporter text messages
from Trump aides Kellyanne Conway, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and even
Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner to prove his insider status with the
White House.
"If people are looking for someone to help Trump, I'm their guy," he
said.
(This version of the story corrects third paragraph to 'most-watched
congressional race so far' from 'first congressional election')
(Additional reporting by Howard Schneider in Washington; Editing by
Jason Szep and Mary Milliken)
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