Why did Ossoff "lose?"

[ecstatic]

Seems like everyone has a different take.

36 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	More people supported Karen Handel
	24 (67%)
	Hacked voting machines or fraud
	5 (14%)
	Incompetence at the DNC
	1 (3%)
	Ossoff was a bad candidate
	2 (6%)
	Ossoff was too centrist
	0 (0%)
	Confusion about poll locations
	0 (0%)
	The weather
	1 (3%)
	Voter suppression or purging
	0 (0%)
	All of the above (except Choice 1)
	2 (6%)
	Other
	1 (3%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[leftstreet]

1. Er...all of the, wait no, what?

Probably all of the above, but possibly also more people who turned out voted for the sour lemoned face woman

[Mister Ed]

2. Someone on another thread said it best:

"Republicans in a Republican district voted Republican."

[geek tragedy]

3. Because it's a Republican district nt

[Hoyt]

4. Simple, isn't it.

[ecstatic]

9. Not really, we are in the midst of a constitutional crisis. I'd think that would change

the equation just a little bit, but I guess not. Either fraud occurred, or the so called "educated" people of District 6 are dumb/stupid/deplorable as hell. Those are the options.

[Hoyt]

12. No fraud occurred, wasn't needed. People of that District are dumb/stupid/deplorable white wingers.

[Yurovsky]

14. It would have helped to have a candidate who lived in the district...

both sides got plenty of outside money but he should have moved into the district to deflate the "carpetbagger" slurs that were certain to come his way. Hell, he couldn't even vote in this election...

[ecstatic]

15. I think he did an excellent job explaining why he was temporarily residing

2 miles outside the district. OMG! Are people really that petty?

[BannonsLiver]

16. If you're explaining you're losing

I like Ossoff a lot and if he wants it he has a future in politics but that's just the type of trivial bullshit Republicans make hay over.

[Yurovsky]

19. In or out. He was out. It might not have mattered to you or I...

but it only needed to matter to a few percent of the votes in play.

FWIW, if the roles were reversed, I'd bet my last dollar that the Democrats would hammer an out-of-district opponent in a similar fashion. And there's no excuse to leave yourself vulnerable to that line of attack. Lease an apartment for six months, sublet your place. It's not that hard...

[RegexReader]

26. get out of here with logic

when millions of $$$$ are being thrown around.

[pstokely]

29. wouldn't they have made an issue about him only living the in the district for a short time

if he had moved into the district?

[Yurovsky]

45. Maybe but less so one would think...

but not even being able to vote in the elections horrible optics, regardless.

I'm hoping we don't tap out our donor base chasing seats in Red districts. If we have the money, fine, but if we start coming up short we could find ourselves losing seats we currently hold. I just wish I had a better feel for the capacity we have to raise money over the next 3+ years...makes me nervous.

[fallout87]

22. In retrospect

Moving to the district would have taken wind out of the right wingers' sails.

[spiderpig]

43. His fiancee's commute to class was more important than establishing residence

in his district.

Nutshell.

[pstokely]

47. how much of a commute would if have been if they had established residency in the 6th district?

?

[bluecollar2]

7. Bingo

[Freethinker65]

10. +1000

Overwhelmingly Republican district

[hrmjustin]

5. Stupidity!

[Doodley]

6. Voting hours suit Republicans much better. Try driving from Atlanta in one of the most

treacherous rush hours to vote in Cobb or North Fulton. That was a factor among many.

[Hoyt]

17. Yeah, it was raining so hard people couldn't mail in their ballot or vote early

Judge gave an extra month to register after the April Special election and people had almost a month to vote early and 6 weeks to mail in a ballot. Polls accept utility bills for ID. There aren't a lot of valid excuses. I get the district was gerrymandered 40 years ago by Dixiecrats, but we gotta quit making excuses.

[Alea]

21. You and I are miles apart on gun control, but you are the most rational person on DU tonight.

I hope you don't mind me saying that.

[Hoyt]

51. Don't mind, Ossoff wouldn't touch gun control. In that district you have a lot of white wing

gun fanciers afraid of the increasing minority demographics (although they are a little more polite than some areas in the South). Avoiding issue of gunz was smart politics in that District, if not good for society.

But the fact is there is little excuse for not voting in Georgia. They've made it pretty easy for almost everyone.

[fallout87]

8. It was a red

District and when the locals saw the money from California pouring in they showed up in droves

[still_one]

11. This is what happened in Georgia's 6th district, and it isn't a surprise

There were 5 Democrats running in that race, including Ossoff.
There were 11 republicans running in that race, including Handle
and 2 independents.

Here were the results for the top 5 before the runoff:

Jon Ossoff (Democratic) 48.12%
Karen Handel (Republican) 19.77%
Bob Gray (Republican) 10.8%
Dan Moody (Republican) 8.84%
Judson Hill (Republican) 8.76%

All the others in that race had less than 1%,

Because of that, Ossoff had a real chance to win the election outright, but not the runoff. That was always a fact, inspite of the media and blogger bullshit. If Ossoff didn't win the election outright, the odds were very much against that he would win the runoff, because all those other republicans would line up behind Handle, and those <1% ers, would add up to about 2% points in Handle's column, along with the undecided, since a point that seems to be conveniently forgotten, that district has been as red as they come for decades.

That Ossoff lost by 5% in the runoff is amazing considering that Tom Price won that district by double digits

[Cattledog]

38. Nailed it! Thanks from a GA district 4 resident.

[mvd]

13. Probably because reliably Repuke districts are sticking together

It's really bothering me though because I thought we had a real chance. Felt some people there would be turned off because of Trump. Ossoff seemed to lose support compared to before. Fits with never ruling the hacking the voting machines out.

[Willie Pep]

18. They usually do.

The term "broken glass Republican" comes to mind. Republican voters tend to be more politically active and more reliable and partisan when to comes to voting.

[Motownman78]

24. Wrong

We had a decent chance, but need Trump at 31% nationally before core Republicans peal off. Also, Ossoff shot himself in the foot by not living in the district.

[mvd]

31. You are saying what I was saying

I was not wrong.

[Motownman78]

32. 20% of Repubs

switched to the Dem this election from 2016. So no, you are still wrong saying they are not leaving him. They are not leaving in a big enough way to sway a +24 district.

[mvd]

33. They still stuck together enough for a victory.

This was my whole point. I thought there would be enough Trump disapproval to give us a real chance.

[Motownman78]

34. Eh, his poll numbers need to be about 31%

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0620/p01s01-uspo.html

Bush was at about 40%, and was at about 33% in November 2006. I think if GA-06 was a R +10 district we would have won.

[LeftInTX]

20. Didn't he win the early vote?

Maybe weather was a factor.

[JI7]

23. i think democrats are usually better at early voting

[BannonsLiver]

27. Barely

He needed about a 5-6 pt spread among early voters. Instead he got 1.4 percent.

I knew he was cooked when he didn't win the first vote. With 4 Republicans in the race that was his best shot.

[kentuck]

25. Wrong strategy.

Should have let him run his campaign and kept it low-key, instead of making a big deal out of it and giving the Republicans a chance to run their propaganda machine against the Democratic Party machine. Democrats cannot beat them at that game. Need to be more guerrilla-oriented and working with the element of surprise, just like in battle.

[BannonsLiver]

28. Agreed, the race got nationalized.

Notice the SC-5 race didn't and it was closer. I'm no poli sci academic but I'm sure that makes for some interesting discussion in those circles.

[Fait Accompli]

30. Not the greatest of platforms.

I'll probably get flack for this, but blanket anti-Trumpism mixed with milquetoast centrism ain't gonna win elections.

[Rollo]

35. Trump made good again on one of his campaign promises: another rigged election...

[LBM20]

39. No, it is a DEEP RED Republican congressional district they have held for nearly 30 years. VERY

tough to flip these. In November they won it by over 20 points. They have a large registration advantage. Also, not actually living inside the district hurt, and the R's also nationalized the race and called him a Pelosi Liberal. That hurt too.

It says a lot that they were able to make this a pretty close race, though I thought it would be even closer. Rain probably had more an impact in the Dem areas.

They worked hard and tried hard in a VERY tough situation. Let's give them some credit.

[OnDoutside]

36. Not living in the district was a self inflicted wound, which

he should have rectified when it was first brought up in the Primary. A noble reason to support his girlfriend, but these are the major leagues. It left him open to the ironic charge of being an outsider, when he was from there and Handel from DC.

[pstokely]

40. even if he had moved into the district

Last edited Wed Jun 21, 2017, 06:06 AM - Edit history (1)

wouldn't they have made an issue about him only living the in the district for a short time and also his support from out of the district? would he had done better if the election had been localized instead of nationalized?

[OnDoutside]

41. He could at least have changed the narrative. For all the money spent, it was always about him being

outside G-06 rather than Handel being from DC, which should have been a bigger deal. Yes I agree, it should have been kept local. At least if he lost, it wouldn't hurt so bad.

[pstokely]

48. wouldn't the narrative had been about him moving it to the district recently if he moved into it?

?

[OnDoutside]

50. No because he grew up in the district !

[jmowreader]

37. Trump's people weren't stupid

When they pulled Republican congressmen out of their districts to form Trump's cabinet, they chose them from very reliably Republican districts.

[JHB]

42. Other: He was from the wrong tribe in Redlandia...

Probably falls within "supported Handel", but I think the distinction matters. A chunk of the voters just wouldn't support any Democrat, same as we'd never vote for a Republican.

[HAB911]

44. https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029231727

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029231727

[Madam45for2923]

46. Red district plus voter purging/suppression.

.

[KingCharlemagne]

49. Other: Racism. Republican voters are a bunch of racist, sexist pigs barely

deserving the title "human". They are a fucking disgusting lot, the mass of them, and I refuse to have anything further to do with any of them. I want Trump to visit great calamities on each and every one of their heads (while sparing their children, if such is at all possible). I want to see those bastards suffer in Biblical proportions.

As soon as anyone in my personal or professional circle self-identifies as Republican, I immediately move to sever all contact with them from that point forward. I began this policy on Nov 8, 2016.

[jcmaine72]

52. The Republicans never doing anything in an equitable fashion.

I don't have any proof, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was massive voter fraud involved...as always.