Failed Georgia congressional candidate Jon Ossoff announced on Monday evening that he was officially launching a bid to unseat Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) in the state of Georgia.
“Georgia, I’m running for Senate,” Ossoff wrote on Twitter. “Political corruption threatens our republic and the future of the planet. The battle we began in Georgia in 2017 will be won in Georgia in 2020 when we win the White House and the Senate.”
Ossoff notably lost his race for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District in 2017 to former Rep. Karen Handel (R-GA) in the special election to replace Tom Price. Price vacated the seat after he was nominated to the role of Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Donald Trump. The special election set the record for the most expensive House race of all time, with more than $50 million spent, largely by outside groups.
“I believe that we are all called to fight the abuse of power, even when the odds are against us. So, from the darkness in a district where the last Democrat lost by 23 points, I ran for Congress,” Ossoff says in his first campaign ad. “It was one of the toughest races in history, and a heartbreaking loss, but we were just getting started.”
“We didn’t give up … Georgians who poured their hearts and souls into a campaign the first time – they didn’t give up,” he continues. “They went on to flip 14 state house districts, they joined the army that Stacey Abrams built to change our state forever, and they helped Democrats across this country win back the House.”
The nationally watched election greatly boosted Ossoff’s profile, and he is now considered to be the most high-profile candidate running for the Democratic nomination to challenge Perdue when his term expires in 2020.
“We have squandered trillions on endless wars. We have squandered trillions on bailouts for failed banks. We have squandered trillions on tax cuts for wealthy donors. Then we’re told there’s noting left over for the people,” Ossoff told the Atlanta Journal Constitution on Monday. “The corruption must be rooted out. And Senator David Perdue is a caricature of Washington corruption.”
He also explained to the AJC that his plan is to “raise a grassroots army unlike any this state has ever seen” by expanding his network of supporters.
Ossoff first revealed in December that he was mulling over a second run for political office and was considering a challenge to Perdue. Interestingly, the investigative journalist-turned-aspiring-politician also called on failed Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams to run for the Senate seat as well. Abrams announced in April that she would not run for Senate in 2020.
Ossoff used his political infrastructure and fundraising lists to help Abrams, and other down-ticket Democratic candidates, during her unsuccessful run for governor during the 2018 midterm election cycle. In Ossoff’s nearly four-minute campaign advertisement, he mentions Abrams multiple times, in what may signal a strong partnership between the two failed candidates as they seek to flip the consistently red state blue.