Democrat Jon Ossoff’s inability to break 50 percent support in a special congressional election to represent Georgia’s 6th District marked a major loss for the Democratic Party, the White House said Wednesday.
“This is a district very close on the presidential level last cycle and the Democrats went all in on this. They were clear going into this election that their goal was to get over 50 percent, so they came up short,” press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters.
Ossoff, 30, raised more than $8 million in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s election, much of it coming from major Democratic donors located outside of Georgia. The former congressional aide hovered around 50 percent of the vote for most of the Tuesday evening, but eventually dipped to a total vote share of 48 percent.
“The Democrats went all in on this race. They spent over $8.3 million. They said on the record their goal was to win this race. They lost,” Spicer said. “They through everything, including the kitchen sink at it, and they lost.”
Ossoff will face Republican candidate Karen Handel, who received just over 19 percent support, in a June runoff election. Spicer said Trump could campaign for Handel “if needed.”
Spicer also criticized the media for suggesting that Ossoff coming close to the 50 percent threshold in Georgia should worry Republicans.
“The reaction has been that they almost won — no, they lost” he said. “Anything short of describing that as a loss is sort of inconceivable to me in the sense that they literally said that is what they said would do.”
