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Ossoff to GOP ahead of likely Georgia runoff: ‘Bring it on’

by Ben Kamisar - 04/19/17 12:13 AM ET

Democratic candidate in #GA06 Jon Ossoff: “This is already a victory for the ages” https://t.co/0ZoSDZ80nb https://t.co/fSNCj3ED8N

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) April 19, 2017

Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff, who appears likely to move on to a runoff election after Georgia’s special congressional election Tuesday night, has a message for his Republican rivals ahead of the election’s next phase: “Bring it on.”

As he addressed his supporters just before midnight on Tuesday, Ossoff celebrated his performance as “a victory for the ages.”

“We have defied the odds, we have shattered expectations. We are changing the world, and your voices are going to ring out across this state and across this country,” he said.

{mosads}”There is no amount of dark money, super PAC, negative advertising that can overcome real grassroots energy like this. So bring it on because we are courageous, we are humble, and we know how to fight.”

As of midnight, Ossoff sits at just under 49 percent of the vote with 84 percent of precincts reporting. In order to win the race outright and avoid a runoff, he would need to finish with a majority of the vote.

Democrats coalesced around Ossoff in the hopes that a victory in the red district would send a message to President Trump and House Republicans about the cost of supporting the president, whose approval rating has hit historic lows while in office. But with Democrats unified around one candidate, that allowed Republicans to hammer Ossoff with millions of dollars in attack ads.

CNN has projected that the race will go down to a runoff between Ossoff and Karen Handel, the Republican former Georgia secretary of state.

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