Cutting past the political circus that dominates Washington, D.C., Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff said on Saturday that the highly anticipated special election contest in GA-06 should be about “improving daily life for Georgians.”
In an interview on AM Joy, Ossoff said no issue is more central to that than health care, where people in his district are worried about Republican efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.
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Jon Ossoff says voters from both parties in his district want no part of the GOP health care plan pic.twitter.com/PvTAHFlj5u
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— Sean Colarossi (@SeanColarossi) June 17, 2017
The Georgia Democrat said:
Across the political spectrum, folks are concerned about this bill that has just passed the House, particularly women and particularly those with pre-existing conditions – more than 300,000 Georgians with pre-existing conditions in the sixth district alone. You know, folks are concerned about losing access to health care. What they want to see is a bipartisan effort to improve the laws on the books, to make health care and health insurance more affordable, to improve access, to improve the quality of care. But what they are getting out of Congress right now is deeply concerning.Â
In this deeply polarized political climate, Ossoff appears to be tapping into the bipartisan consensus that the GOP health care plan is disastrous and will hurt millions of Americans. As Joy Reid pointed out, most people in Ossoff’s district chose health care as their top issue.
The Georgia Democrat’s commitment to the issues, instead of diving head first into the political gutter, has largely been successful so far as a handful of polls in recent weeks show him with a small, steady lead over his Republican opponent, Karen Handel.
In a district that Donald Trump carried in 2016 and Republicans have held for decades, this should strike fear into the hearts of the GOP as the 2018 midterm campaign is just around the corner.
With days until voters in Georgia’s sixth district head to the polls, Ossoff is making the smart move by focusing not just on the corruption that continues to consume the White House, but the disastrous Republican policy agenda that will bury the middle class.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
