US Senate Election

October 29, 2020

Anna Rachwalski

2020 is a big year for the Senate races in Georgia, with both a special election and a regular election on the ballot this election season. In the regular Georgia senate race, incumbent Republican candidate David Perdue faces young Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff to represent Georgia. After winning his first senate race in 2014 against Michelle Nunn, Purdue is now facing a stiff challenge from Ossoff who is seeking to be the first Democratic Senator elected from Georgia since 1997. Polls remain close in the final week of campaigning as both candidates make their pitch to Georgia voters. 

Jon Ossoff (D)

Democratic+Challenger+Jon+Ossoff

Courtesy of Campaign

Democratic Challenger Jon Ossoff

Ossoff platform:

Jon Ossoff is the Democratic candidate running for a seat in the senate. Ossoff was born and raised in Atlanta and is the CEO of the investigative film company, Insight TWI. In terms of political experience, Ossoff worked as a national security aide to Georgia Congressman Hank Johnson for five years. Additionally, in 2017, Ossoff narrowly lost the special election race to represent Georgia’s 6th congressional district to then-Republican incumbent candidate Karen Handel. Ossoff’s current platform emphasizes the importance of affordable healthcare for Georgians and promises to overturn legislation to allow limits on donations to political candidates. He has been endorsed by Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama.

COVID-19

  • Promises to work to make healthcare affordable; attributes high costs to “corrupt influence” of pharmaceutical and insurance companies
  • Supports the expansion of Medicaid and of US Public Health Service

THE ECONOMY

  • Wants to overturn the Citizens United case to prevent government monetary corruption
  • Vows to invest in small businesses
  • Supports access to debt-free public college 
  • Supports the reduction of dependence on Chinese supply chains

CLIMATE CHANGE

  • Reformative infrastructure plan invests in “clean” energy 
  • Supports environmental protection policies and reentry back into the Paris Climate Accords

RACIAL/SOCIAL INEQUALITY

  • Supports criminal justice reform and a “New Civil Rights Act” 
  • Wants to ban private prisons and abolish the death penalty
  • Supports reallocating police funds to demilitarize local police forces

WOMEN & LGBTQ+ RIGHTS

  • Pro-choice: supports Roe v Wade
  • Supports the Equality Act to protect members of the LGBGTQ+ community from discrimination
  • Opposes military ban on members of the LGBTQ+ community
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David Purdue (R)

US+Senator+David+Purdue

Official Senate Portrait

US Senator David Purdue

Perdue Platform

David Perdue is the Republican candidate running for a to represent Georgia in the U.S Senate. Perdue seeks reelection in the race for his second term, first being elected to the position in 2014. Purdue is well-known in corporate America, having served as the CEO of Dollar General, Reebok and Pillowtex. From 2019-2020, he was assigned to the U.S Senate Committees on Budget, Armed services, Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, as well as the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry

COVID-19

  • Wrote the “School Act,” which allowed students and teachers to return to school
  • Secured relief for Georgians through the Paycheck Protection Program
  • Supported the CARES Act, giving $6 billion to GA hospitals and healthcare workers
  • Investigated over Stock Trades made at beginning of the pandemic.

THE ECONOMY

  • Wants to fix the congressional budget process 
  • Supports federal funding for The Port of Savannah 
  • Supports “free market” alternatives to Obamacare

CLIMATE CHANGE

RACIAL INEQUALITY

  • Emphasizes the Trump administration’s focus on “Law & Order”
  • Does not support defunding the police
  • Supports the “First step act” to remove mandatory minimum sentencing for first-time, nonviolent drug offenders
  • Cosponsored the JUSTICE Act to provide de-escalation programs to officers and require body cameras

WOMEN AND LBGTQ+ Rights

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