Georgia Senate hopeful Jon Ossoff weighed in on COVID-19, and the Trump Administration’s handling of the crisis, in a virtual town hall on Saturday. Ossoff, who is most famous for losing a Congressional special election in 2017, claimed that the need to act was “obvious:”
LIVE on Facebook and Instagram right now with @evertonblairjr!
— Jon Ossoff (@ossoff) April 18, 2020
Join us!https://t.co/QSBNmF85mO
“There was warning, in December, in January, in February, public health officials and institutions sounding the alarms. It was obvious just from observing what was happening in Wuhan, China, that this was a very dangerous and highly contagious germ. Obviously a lot of the data was flawed, but we knew enough to know that we needed to act,” he says.
Ossoff is still employing the same elitist rhetoric that, among other factors, cost him the high-profile special election for former HHS Secretary Tom Price’s Congressional seat in June of 2017; Democrats and interest-group allies nationalized the race and spent millions on the race, but could not get Ossoff over the finish line.
Despite his claim that the need for action on COVID-19 was “obvious,” even in December, the Senate hopeful remained quiet until late February, when he took to Twitter to falsely claim that President Trump was not listening to public health experts:
Instead of listening to America’s top public health experts, the Trump Administration is slashing the CDC’s budget and ignoring its advice.
— Jon Ossoff (@ossoff) February 21, 2020
Not wise!https://t.co/QMym25udUD
The false claim above, against the president, is a very obvious attempt by Ossoff to score political points as he faces a primary for the Democratic Senate nomination; fellow Democrats Theresa Tomlinson and Sarah Riggs Amico represent Ossoff’s biggest competitors for the nomination. The eventual victor of the June primary will face Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) in November.
While Ossoff attacks the president, his own primary heats up. Tomlinson recently took a shot at both contenders, claiming that the Senate is not a “starter job.” As the former Mayor of Columbus, Georgia, Tomlinson points out that neither Ossoff nor Amico have any political experience:
On account of COVID-19, the primary is set for June 9. Sen. Perdue’s seat is still rated as “Likely Republican” by Cook Political Report, Inside Elections and Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball.
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