More than $14 million worth of ads have already flooded Georgia's 6th District. And with a June 20 runoff looming, outside groups are readying another volley.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC with ties to Paul Ryan, was quick out the gates with a digital spot that depicts Ossoff as a creation of Nancy Pelosi. It’s one of a string of advertisements linking Ossoff to the House Democratic leader, who polls abysmally in the conservative-leaning north Atlanta district.
The timing of the ad is a reminder that voters will hardly have a respite after the Tuesday special election. Ossoff fell just short of the majority-vote he sought, but declared a "victory for the ages" after performing about as well as Donald Trump in the district.
He faces Republican Karen Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, in a head-to-head matchup in June that will test his campaign in new ways. She’ll be backed by the CLF, which has already spent nearly $3 million on attack ads and field organizers to bog down Ossoff’s numbers.
Courtney Alexander, a CLF spokeswoman, indicated that Republicans intend to continue to tie Ossoff to Pelosi, and slam him for raising the bulk of his fundraising dollars from out of state.
"Jon Ossoff’s campaign is nothing more than a product of Nancy Pelosi and the liberal elite,” said Alexander.
Ossoff, meanwhile, said his campaign was prepared for a new round of attacks – and didn't rule out lobbing some of his own against Handel. He said in an interview that the Pelosi dig is "the most tired stock partisan attack in the playbook."
“It’s utterly devoid of substance and offers no solutions for metro Atlanta,” he said. “And it’s the same stuff I’ve already been facing for months with little effect.”
More: Handel, Ossoff enter next phase in Georgia special election
Watch the ad below:
ANNCR: Ninety-five percent of Jon Ossoff’s campaign donors are liberals from outside of Georgia.
CHRIS JANSING: You don’t live in your congressional district and the enormous $8.3 million you raised in the first quarter has come largely from out-of-state donors.
Is it effective for Republicans to paint you as someone who will be more beholden to national Democrats than your constituents?
ANNCR: Jon Ossoff would be Nancy Pelosi’s congressman, not ours.
Congressional Leadership Fund is responsible for the content of this advertising.
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