Democrat Jon Ossoff unsuccessfully sought the endorsement of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in his bid to win a special election for a vacant Georgia congressional seat.
Pursuing the endorsement was a sensible political move for a Democrat trying to flip a conservative-leaning, suburban Atlanta district that has been in Republican hands for nearly 40 years, even if his GOP opponent ultimately won the business group’s backing. But it could put Ossoff at odds with the left-wing activists that have invested so much time and money in his campaign.
The U.S. Chamber has spent tens of millions of dollars to oust incumbent liberal Democrats and defeat progressives in open contests. The chamber still backs centrist Democrats on occasion, but Ossoff did not fit the bill.
Rob Engstrom, the U.S. Chamber’s political director, participated in the candidate interview with Ossoff back in March.
He said the Democrat “generically asserted he was pro-business,” but that his answers to the chamber’s questions made “crystal clear” that he is aligned with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
“It’s as though he was auditioning for ‘Dancing with the Stars,'” Engstrom said Wednesday in an interview with the Washington Examiner.
The U.S. Chamber, and its Georgia affiliate, instead endorsed Republican Karen Handel over Ossoff. The two are squaring off in a June 20 runoff.
Handel finished second in the April 18 open primary, emerging from a crowded field of Republicans vying to succeed Tom Price, who resigned to become President Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary.
Ossoff is running as a business-friendly centrist who would focus on fiscal belt-tightening and creating high-tech jobs. The 30-year-old former congressional aide is reaffirming that message in his latest television spot, set to run through Election Day and backed by $5.3 million.
This approach paid dividends for Ossoff in the primary. He nearly won the special election outright, finishing first with 48 percent, just short of the 50 percent he needed to avoid the runoff.
Trump only narrowly won the 6th Congressional District in November, defeating Hillary Clinton by just 1.5 percentage points, creating an opening for Ossoff if he can convince voters there that he is a pragmatic Democrat who would work across the aisle, and with the Trump White House, to get things done for the district.
“I’m Jon Ossoff, and both parties in Congress waste a lot of your money. It’s just on different things, and the deficits are holding back our economy,” Ossoff says in his new television ad, running on broadcast and cable in the Atlanta media market.
“Here’s my plan,” Ossoff says, talking straight to camera, as the spot continues. “Cut the wasteful spending, reduce the deficit so the economy can keep growing and prioritize high-tech and biotech research to create more good jobs in metro Atlanta.”
More than two weeks into the runoff campaign, Democrats like how the runoff is unfolding.
In a new public opinion poll conducted for Ossoff, he held a narrow lead over Handel, 48 percent to 47 percent. That included a 12-point advantage among voters who participated in round one of the special election and voted in the 2016 presidential election, but not in the 2014 midterm. The survey’s error margin was 4 percentage points.
National Democrats poured another $1 million into the runoff on Wednesday, bringing their total investment to nearly $2 million. The DCCC, pragmatic about winning races, is happy for Ossoff to present himself in whatever manner puts him in the best position to win.
The question is whether left-wing activists and groups, that have donated and steered millions of dollars in money and manpower to Ossoff’s campaign, are okay with his flirtation with the U.S. Chamber and a centrist message that runs counter to what they stand for.
Republicans charge that Ossoff is either being disingenuous to 6th District voters, to whom he’s promising centrism, or he’s being less than truthful to his liberal supporters around the country, who no doubt expect him to join “the resistance” to Trump in Washington.
The Ossoff campaign did not respond to an email requesting comment.
But a Democratic operative said that Ossoff has run as a centrist since he entered the special election campaign earlier this year, and it hasn’t been a problem. Liberals are energized by their opposition to Trump and want to put a check on his power any way they can.
“What we’ve found in conversations with progressive allies is that they’re less focused on his actual, precise policy positions and more on checks and balances,” a Democratic operative said. “A Washington that is fully controlled by the GOP is what is threatening them right now and they are pragmatic about it.”
