Jon Ossoff Credits Women For His Strong Showing In Georgia [View all]

[JI7]

“This comes down to grassroots intensity,” Ossoff added on MSNBC Wednesday. “The thousands of volunteers and organizers, so much of it led by women who have been pounding the pavement and knocking on doors for months here in Georgia, and it’s that kind of grassroots momentum that will carry us to victory on June 20.”

Handel gained notoriety in 2012, when she took aim at women’s health care as an executive at Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The Huffington Post has reported that she quietly drove the charity’s controversial decision to cut off grants to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screenings because of her own opposition to abortion rights. The Komen organization insisted its decision had nothing to do with abortion politics, but internal emails showed Handel instigated the move and strategized how to spin it because wanted to break ties with Planned Parenthood.

Handel’s miscalculation at Komen may damage her in the race against Ossoff. Georgia voters anecdotally say that even Republican women are turned off by Handel’s move against cancer screenings.

Handel boasts endorsements from several anti-abortion groups, and has made her position clear on Planned Parenthood funding, which is in jeopardy in the Republican-led Congress. Ossoff, a former documentary filmmaker and congressional aide to Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson (D), supports abortion rights, birth control access and federal funding for Planned Parenthood. If he manages to defeat Handel in June, he would be the first Democrat to win in the suburban Atlanta district since the 1970s.

Planned Parenthood Action Fund has launched a six-figure campaign in support of Ossoff.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jon-ossoff-women_us_58f78eb4e4b0de5bac431690