GOP Official Says Congressman’s Shooting Will ‘Win Us’ Race Against Jon Ossoff

Jon Ossoff

By Daniel J. Solomon June 19, 2017

As Jon Ossoff races to a close finish in the special election for a Georgia House seat, one Republican official says the upstart’s chances will be thwarted by last week’s shooting against congressional Republicans.

“I think the shooting is going to win this election for us,” Brad Carver, the party chair in the state’s 11th House district told the Washington Post. “Because moderates and independents in this district are tired of left-wing extremism. I get that there’s extremists on both sides, but we are not seeing them.”

An attack last Wednesday on a Republican baseball practice in Virginia led some on the right to accuse Democrats and the left of using violent rhetoric to resist President Trump’s policies. Steve Scalise, the House majority whip, remains in hospitral, where he has undergone numerous surgeries.

Going into Tuesday’s highly-anticipated election, Ossoff is said to have a slight edge over Republican opponent Karen Handel. Observers from both parties have focused in on the race – fought in the northern suburbs of Atlanta – as a sign of the president’s popularity and whether Democrats stand a chance of retaking the House of Representatives next year.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

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