Senate race pits a pair of newcomers with familiar names

The race for Georgia’s open U.S. Senate seat pairs two political newcomers with gilded names who are campaigning as outsiders, but their sharp differences were immediately apparent as the general election launched.

No matter the winner of the race between Republican David Perdue and Democrat Michelle Nunn, Georgia voters have ensured it will not be a candidate with deep political experience. Perdue defeated three sitting congressmen and a former statewide official to wrest the nomination, while Nunn was relatively unknown in political circles before winning her party’s nod.

Their general election campaign kicked off Tuesday just after Perdue declared victory in the GOP runoff at a Buckhead ballroom, as in-boxes filled with attacks on the former Fortune 500 executive’s business record even as he was trying to tie Nunn to the “failed administration” of President Barack Obama.

The race also features Libertarian Amanda Swafford, the political veteran of the group, having served on the Flowery Branch City Council. The contest could determine control of the U.S. Senate, as Republicans need a net gain of six seats to retake the chamber, and losing retiring Republican Saxby Chambliss’ seat could unravel their chances.

The coming months present challenges to both campaigns. Perdue’s campaign is exhausted and broke, even after he pumped more than $3 million of his own fortune into a grueling seven-way primary followed by a nine-week runoff. He also must sway skeptical Republicans, establishment figures and tea party types alike, who rallied around his runoff opponent, U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston.

And the outsider message he employed for the past year, an anti-Washington appeal he used to place as the top vote-getter in a crowded May primary and eke out a win against Kingston on Tuesday, will be harder to level at Nunn. The Democrat, a nonprofit executive, has spent millions introducing herself to voters in a similar vein.

Nunn, too, has a messaging problem. Many of her supporters privately hoped Kingston would win, giving them a chance to hew to a familiar “outsider-vs.-insider” trope.

A pivot to November

Nunn, the daughter of former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, said Wednesday that she would "contrast" her experience leading the nonprofit that became Points of Light with Perdue's business credentials as CEO of Dollar General. She said the two differ in "our experiences, our aspirations and our approach."

“If you think about it, I have spent 25 years actually trying to serve people, make a difference, build people up and lift communities and work collaboratively across party lines,” Nunn said. “I think that demonstrated record and experience and that kind of approach is what people are hungry for and what I do not think you’re going to hear from David Perdue.”

Nunn even tested out a mild way to tie her opponent to an unpopular Washington — negative campaigning.

“When you look at what’s happened over the past nine weeks (in the GOP runoff), when you talk to people they say it sure does look a lot like Washington right now and what we are so tired of in terms of politics,” Nunn said.

Perdue told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that his business experience positions him perfectly for a Senate job, and he said his focus will be as much about Obama as his Democratic challenger.

“She’s an outsider and I’m an outsider. Now we get to talk about the failed policies of this administration, and to really talk about the options we have as a country,” Perdue said. “Those are opportunities that we are going to have to prosecute (Obama’s) record and offer alternatives.”

Surrogates offered a sharper message for both. Democrats began trying to define Perdue as an unscrupulous capitalist who put himself before others, a Mitt Romney-style executive who made millions via layoffs and outsourcing. They relied partly on the mud slung by other Republicans in the crowded primary.

Gov. Nathan Deal, speaking with Perdue at a unity rally at the party’s Buckhead headquarters, sought to paint Nunn and Democrat Jason Carter, his gubernatorial challenger, as political legacies. His aides have characterized the ticket as the Downton Democrats — an homage to the aristocrats on the TV show “Downton Abbey” — though Perdue himself has benefited from support from his first cousin former Gov. Sonny Perdue.

“We’re not running on our namesakes. Our opponents are going around the country raising money because they have good names. I don’t have a problem with that,” he said. “But you know, we believe a candidate ought to stand on their own record, on their own priorities.”

Taking stock — and looking ahead

David Perdue’s victory surprised many in Georgia political circles and even seemed to take the candidate aback. Before the polls closed, his cousin, the former governor, called for “ground rules” to protect GOP contenders in the next primary; hardly the rhetoric expected from a campaign that was certain of victory.

Perdue’s triumph, despite being outspent, was due in part to grass-roots organizing and stronger turnout in his regions of strength.

Kingston, who has represented a Savannah-based district for 22 years, earned a spot in the runoff thanks to overwhelming support in southeast Georgia. Republican pollster Mark Rountree pointed out that while Savannah’s Chatham County — Kingston’s home county — had roughly the same number of voters in the primary as in the runoff, the rest of Kingston’s district dropped 28 percent.

Metro Atlanta proved to be more favorable to Perdue, and turnout there was only down by about 11 percent.

“Chatham returned; those would be the people who know Jack,” Rountree said.

“The rest of district was very supportive of him, but they’re still 100 miles from his hometown. … These guys, it’s pretty clear to me, did not do a get-out-the-vote program.”