That Jon Ossoff got so many votes in Georgia is damning for Trump

That Jon Ossoff got so many votes in Georgia is damning for Trump


Jon Ossoff never should have been able to come within spitting distance of a win in such a deeply red district. That he could shows how unpopular Trump is


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‘What matters isn’t what Georgia’s 6th means as a bellwether for 2018.’ Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images



Not long after Georgia’s special election had been called for Karen Handel, Paul Ryan’s spokeswoman was already out boasting about what it meant for Trumpcare. “Remember when they told us we’d be punished in the special elexs for following through on our promise to #RepealAndReplace #obamacare?” she tweeted. Such brags are entirely expected, and entirely wrongheaded. That the Republican candidate in question barely squeaked out a win just seven months after the district’s former Republican incumbent Tom Price was reelected with a resoundingly majority, doesn’t seem to register with her. Neither does the fact that Trump won the district in November, however narrowly.

That Democrats were able to muster so much political willpower in a district that’s consistently sent Republicans to Congress since 1979 (yes, you read that right) is a testament not to the palatability of the Republican’s health care agenda — which is opposed, remarkably, in all 50 states and the District of Columbia — but to just how displeased voters have been with President Trump’s first five months.

Handel’s Democratic opponent Jon Ossoff, lost Tuesday. But he never should have been able to come within spitting distance of a win in such a deeply red district, and we didn’t need Tuesday night’s election to tell us that. It’s been apparent for as long as the candidates have been polling neck-and-neck in a place where a Democrat has no business doing anything but losing handily.

What matters isn’t what Georgia’s 6th means as a bellwether for 2018, as so many reductive analyses would have you believe. It isn’t representative of the country and there are dozens of House districts that would be easier for Democrats to win. What matters is how Congressional Republicans will twist the results and use them to justify support for Trump’s American Health Care Act, a version of which is rapidly and secretly advancing through the Senate and if passed, would strip millions of Americans of insurance without ever giving them a chance to weigh in.

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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/21/jon-ossoff-georgia-votes-donald-trump