For Ossoff and Georgia Democrats, the shutdown fight is the message
Georgia Democrats say they want more fight. And they’re getting it from U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff and other leading party figures opposing a deal to end a record-long government shutdown.
Ossoff, who is running for reelection, and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock voted Monday to reject a compromise effort to reopen the government that didn’t extend health insurance subsidies.
They’ve joined top Democratic contenders for governor in speaking out against the deal that cleared the Senate by a 60-40 vote, responding to a base that’s demanding more grit — and less compromise — from its elected leaders after months of norm-shattering moves by President Donald Trump and his allies in his second term.
The Democrats are echoing one of the loudest messages in the latest Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll: Opposing Trump is one of the top priorities for likely Democratic primary voters, and not doing so risks infuriating their most loyal supporters.
That stance could alienate the middle-of-the-road voters who helped Georgia Democrats capture statewide offices earlier this decade and could be critical to Ossoff’s second-term chances.
But it also reflects the mood of the moment for many more progressive voters — and the ideological tone that Democratic candidates believe they must strike heading into the midterms.
They have put extending expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies at the heart of the agenda. And, for now at least, the fight is the point.
“It wasn’t just about energizing the Democratic base. It was a reflection of political reality,” said Devin Barrington-Ward, a progressive strategist and community organizer with the Black Futurists Group.
“Ossoff understands that the base, and even some independents, want to see Democrats fight back instead of rolling over and taking it.”
But Republicans say Ossoff will feel the pain, too, after voting to keep the government closed.
“Ossoff and Georgia Democrats are rolling the dice not just with people’s livelihoods, but their own political future,” said Republican operative Steven Lawson, an ally of U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, one of the leading Republican Senate candidates.
“They are clearly betting their base remembers this political move more than the people with delayed flights or missed benefits do — a risky calculation with so much on the line next November.”
‘Surrender’
Ossoff’s vote was no shock. He’s the most vulnerable Democratic senator up for reelection next year, but he’s also staked out a reputation as a pragmatic progressive rather than a moderate dealmaker.
There was little sign he would shift course, even after Trump recaptured Georgia last year and swept every other battleground state. Ossoff has held rowdy rallies in the months since, railing against Trump’s mass government layoffs and plans to gut public health programs, casting the fight as a moral one.
So when the shutdown came, he didn’t budge. He voted more than a dozen times against previous attempts to reopen the government without renewing the Affordable Care Act subsidies.
And while he and Warnock supported smaller, standalone bills to fund certain agencies during the impasse — which some saw as evidence he could cross the aisle to break the logjam — Ossoff consistently made clear why he wouldn’t compromise.
He has argued, often with clinical precision, that failing to renew the subsidies could double health care premiums for many Georgians.
“With health care votes ahead,” Ossoff said after his vote, “the question is whether Republicans in Congress will join us to prevent catastrophic increases in health insurance premiums.”
But that view isn’t winning over his Republican critics. His GOP opponents are already casting the standoff in far harsher terms. U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-St. Simons, told “Politically Georgia” it was tantamount to a hostage situation.
“They blackmailed the American people in order to try to get millions of dollars more to the insurance companies through Non-Affordable Care Act subsidies,” he said. “And that’s something that I think that they should be held accountable for.”
Every major Democratic contender for governor in Georgia came out against the Senate compromise, with several accusing the eight Senate Democrats who crossed party lines to advance the bill of betrayal for relenting on the health care demand. Former state Sen. Jason Esteves called it a “surrender.” Michael Thurmond, a former statewide labor commissioner, said the fallout could be catastrophic.
“It gives Republicans a path to raise health care costs for almost half a million Georgians and cut tens of thousands of jobs - all while families struggle to make rent and put food on the table under Trump’s failing economy,” Thurmond said.
‘Vote no, hope yes’
They feel they have the wind at their backs. Last week’s Democratic victories in key races in Virginia and New Jersey — along with the rout of Republican Public Service Commissioners in Georgia — gave Democrats a sense of momentum that they could win more favorable terms.
Still, at a certain point, the math is the math. Republicans weren’t going to talk Obamacare subsidies while the government was closed, and aside from a few notable defectors like U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, their coalition wasn’t cracking. Nor was Trump going to strike out and make a deal on his own with Democrats.
That’s likely how the eight Democratic senators who broke ranks saw it. The shutdown brinkmanship wasn’t moving votes, and there was no sign that hanging on longer would change anything. What looked like a showdown had become a stalemate, and Ossoff stayed where he started.
Brendan Buck, a political analyst and former aide to Republican House Speakers Paul Ryan and John Boehner who helped navigate previous shutdowns, predicted there was a large “vote no, hope yes” contingent among Senate Democrats.
“Senate Democrats want the shutdown to end,” Buck said. “They just don’t want to have to be the ones to vote for it.”
Ossoff’s allies had a less cynical take. For them, the political clash was about what the health care system looked like before the Affordable Care Act — and what it could look like again if it’s gutted.
Dr. Parin Chheda, a Cobb County Democratic activist, noted that he trained for his medical degree before the overhaul passed, when 48 million Americans lacked insurance.
“It was horrible. I don’t want to go back to that time,” said Chheda, a palliative medicine specialist who said opposing the deal is the only option.
“Not only was it a smart move,” he said, “it was the ethical, humane and right move.”
About the Author
Greg Bluestein is the Atlanta Journal Constitution's chief political reporter. He is also an author, TV analyst and co-host of the Politically Georgia podcast.
