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Jon Ossoff

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Jon Ossoff
Personal details
Born
Thomas Jonathan Ossoff

(1987-02-16) February 16, 1987 (age 37)
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationGeorgetown University (BS)
London School of Economics
(MS)
WebsiteCampaign website

Thomas Jonathan Ossoff (born February 16, 1987)[1] is an American documentary filmmaker, former political aide, and the Democratic nominee for Congress in the 2017 special election in Georgia's 6th congressional district.[2][3][4][5] The race has received significant national attention.[5]

Ossoff received 48.1% of the vote and since no candidate secured a majority in the nonpartisan blanket primary, the top two-vote-getters, Ossoff and his Republican opponent Karen Handel, will compete in a runoff election on June 20, 2017.

Early life and education

Ossoff was born on February 16,1987[1] in Atlanta, Georgia. He was raised in Northlake, an unincorporated community in Georgia's 6th congressional district.[6] Ossoff attended the Paideia School, a small private school in Atlanta.[7] While in high school, he interned for Georgia congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis.[7]

Ossoff attended Georgetown University from 2005 to 2009, earning a bachelor's degree in the School of Foreign Service. He attended classes taught by former secretary of state Madeleine Albright and former Israeli ambassador to the United States Michael Oren.[8][9] Ossoff went on to earn his Master of Science degree from London School of Economics in 2013,[8][9] where he wrote his thesis on trade relations between the United States and China.[10]

Political career

Ossoff worked as a national security staffer and aide to Rep. Hank Johnson for five years where he drafted and managed legislative initiatives that passed the House and Senate.[6][11] He had top-secret clearance for five months.[12] Since 2013, he has been managing partner and CEO of Insight TWI, a small business which produces investigations targeting corrupt officials and organized crime for international news organizations.[13] In 2016, Ossoff was an executive producer for a documentary film by Insight TWI for BBC Three; the film exposed atrocities committed by ISIL in Iraq.[14]

2017 special election

Main article: Georgia's 6th congressional district special election, 2017

After learning that Tom Price of Georgia's 6th district had been appointed secretary of Health and Human Services, Ossoff announced his candidacy for this special election on January 5, 2017.[9][15] Ossoff quickly emerged as the most viable Democratic candidate out of a large field of candidates.[16] He was endorsed by prominent figures such as congressmen Hank Johnson and John Lewis,[5][17] and state House Democratic leader Stacey Abrams.[18][19] Ossoff raised over $8.3 million by early April of that year.[20]

The election is seen by many as an early test of how the first few months of Donald Trump's presidency may have shifted the opinions or voter enthusiasm of educated suburban voters who live in swing districts. Trump under-performed in districts with demographics similar to the 6th during the 2016 election, having won the 6th District by only 1 percentage point.[21] Ossoff grew up in the 6th congressional district, where his family still lives, though as of the election he lived about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) outside the district's boundaries. As a result, he was unable to vote for himself in the primary. He has said that he temporarily lives in the neighboring 4th District so that his girlfriend, Alisha, an Emory University medical student, can walk to the hospital where she works. His current home is only 10 minutes outside the 6th, and he intends to move back there after Alicia completes her medical studies.[22][9][23]

In the April 18 primary, no candidate received 50% of the vote in the blanket primary ("jungle primary").[24] Ossoff led with about 48.1% of the vote, Republican candidate Karen Handel received 19.8%, while the remainder of votes were scattered for 16 other candidates.[25][26] Because no candidate secured an absolute majority, the top two-vote-getters, Ossoff and Handel, will compete in a runoff election on June 20, 2017.[27][26] Ossoff won all but 1% of the Democratic vote, while the Republican vote was more heavily split. Republicans collectively won 51.2% of the overall vote.[28] This was as close as a Democrat had come to winning this district since it assumed its current configuration as a northern suburban district in 1992; previously, Democratic challengers had only won more than 40 percent of the vote twice.[29]

Political positions

According to The New Yorker, Ossoff has "progressive positions on women's issues and health care" and "moderate stances on jobs and security."[30] According to the Washington Post, the Ossoff campaign opted not to turn the special election into a referendum on Trump's alleged scandals, but to focus on "policy decisions by the president and congressional Republicans."[31]

Ossoff has been sharply critical of President Donald Trump, criticizing his "divisive approach to government"[32] and saying: "I have great respect for the office. I don't have great personal admiration for the man himself."[33] After Trump sent out a tweet the day before the April 19 primary, calling Ossoff a "super Liberal Democrat" who wanted to "protect criminals, allow illegal immigration and raise taxes," Ossoff dismissed Trump's claims and called him "misinformed."[34] FactCheck.org found that Trump's claim was a distortion, and that there was no evidence that Ossoff had ever advocated for any broad-based tax hikes.[35] Nevertheless, Ossoff said that he would be willing to work with Trump on issues of mutual interest, such as infrastructure spending.[33] He said, "If the administration introduces a fiscally responsible infrastructure bill, I’ll work in a bipartisan way to make sure it delivers transformative solutions to Georgia."[36] After Trump's disclosure of classified information to Russia, Ossoff said of impeachment that "I don't think we're there."[37] Ossoff called for "a full and transparent and independent assessment of what level of interference there was by Russian intelligence services in the U.S. election. And overseers in Congress and any independent counsel or commission to do so should follow those facts wherever they lead."[37]

Ossoff supports the right to abortion and access to contraception.[27] He opposes legislation that would "allow insurance companies to discriminate against women."[27]

Ossoff opposes prison sentencing for nonviolent drug offences.[27] His website says, "Violent crime, murder, rape, human trafficking, and corruption are rampant, while we spend billions locking up nonviolent drug offenders."[38]

Ossoff opposes tax increases, and has called for reduced taxes on small businesses and to simplify small business tax filing.[38] He supports tax credits for small businesses.[35] He has called for the repeal of "wasteful, anti-competitive special interest subsidies that make it hard for entrepreneurs to raise capital, enter the market, create jobs, and compete with larger firms who have lobbyists in Washington."[38][35] He supports American participation in the Paris Agreement, and has pledged to "work to make the United States a global leader against climate change."[27]

He supports the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).[27] His health care policy aims to serve three basic principles: "One, no American should suffer or die from preventable or treatable illness. Two, no one should go broke because they get sick. And three, no business should go under or lay off employees because it can’t keep up with health insurance premiums."[36]

Ossoff opposed both the March 2017 and May 2017 versions of the American Health Care Act, the House Republican bill that repeals and replaces the Affordable Care Act.[39] Ossoff said that the May 2017 version was worse than the earlier one "because it does even less to protect those with preexisting conditions. And those are children and families here in Georgia who need to be able to get affordable health insurance despite a preexisting condition."[40]

Ossoff supports comprehensive immigration reform that would both strengthen enforcement along the Mexican border and provide a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants.[35] This position is generally consistent with the stance of most congressional Democrats and a number of prominent Republicans, including President George W. Bush and Senator John McCain.[35]

Personal life

Ossoff's mother Heather Fenton, an Australian immigrant,[7] co-founded NewPower PAC, an organization that works to elect women to local office across Georgia.[41][42] His father, who is of Russian Jewish and Lithuanian Jewish descent, owns a specialist publishing company.[7] Ossoff was raised Jewish.[43]

On May 7, 2017, Ossoff's campaign confirmed he and his longtime girlfriend, Alisha, a former Georgetown schoolmate, are engaged.[44][45]

References

  1. ^ a b Mr. Thomas Jonathan Ossoff, Insight Twi Limited; findthecompany.co.uk (subscription required)
  2. ^ "Insight TWI: The World Investigates".
  3. ^ Bluestein, Greg (January 5, 2017). "A Democrat with a pile of cash commitments announces for Tom Price's seat". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  4. ^ "About Jon". Jon Ossoff for Congress. 2017.
  5. ^ a b c Bill Barrow (February 14, 2017). "Georgia special election shapes up as referendum on Trump". Associated Press.
  6. ^ a b "Jon Ossoff Announces Congressional Bid". January 5, 2017. Archived from the original on February 22, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ a b c d Bethea, Charles (March 3, 2017). "Can This Democrat Win the Georgia Sixth?". The New Yorker. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
  8. ^ a b Hohmann, James (February 23, 2017). "The Daily 202: Will anti-Trump backlash let Democrats win the Georgia special election to replace Tom Price?". Washington Post.
  9. ^ a b c d Murphy, Patricia (February 27, 2017). "Could The Resistance Start With Georgia's Special Election?". Daily Beast. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  10. ^ "Jonathan Ossoff in LSE Review of Books".
  11. ^ "How extensive was Jon Ossoff's national security background?". @politifact. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
  12. ^ Weaver, Dustin (April 1, 2017). "Democrats go for broke in race for Tom Price's seat". TheHill. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
  13. ^ "No Blood Diamonds or Gunrunning in Sight, Why the Documentary Film?". Independent. September 16, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
  14. ^ "Girls, Guns and Isis". Insight TWI, Ltd. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  15. ^ "A Democrat with a pile of cash commitments announces for Tom Price's seat". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. January 5, 2017.
  16. ^ Ed Kilgore (February 16, 2017). "Georgia's Special Election to Replace Tom Price Is Still the GOP's Race to Lose". New York.
  17. ^ Roarty, Alex (February 23, 2017). "Democrats hope Trump backlash begins in this ruby-red House seat". Miami Herald. McClatchy. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
  18. ^ "Democrat aiming for Tom Price's seat picks up key supporter". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. February 9, 2017.
  19. ^ Darnell, Tim (February 28, 2017). "Race to replace Price: Leading in polls, Ossoff doesn't live in district". WXIA.
  20. ^ "Democrat Ossoff rakes in huge amount in 6th District race". myajc. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
  21. ^ Fausset, Richard; Steinhauer, Jennifer (March 8, 2017). "A Democrat in Conservative Georgia Rides Opposition to Trump". The New York Times.
  22. ^ "Dem hopeful dismisses questions about residency". CNN. Retrieved April 18, 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  23. ^ Robert Costa, "Republicans avoid big loss by forcing runoff in Ga. House race", Washington Post, April 18, 2017.
  24. ^ CNN, Eric Bradner. "Ossoff falls just short in Georgia special election". CNN. Retrieved April 19, 2017. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  25. ^ "Unofficial Results". Georgia Secretary of State. Atlanta, Georgia. April 19, 2017. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
  26. ^ a b "Election Results: Ossoff, Handel Advance in Race for Georgia's Sixth Congressional District". New York Times. April 19, 2017.
  27. ^ a b c d e f "The Voter's Self Defense System". Vote Smart. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
  28. ^ Kilgore, Ed. "Ossoff Falls Short of a Majority in Georgia House Race, Heads to Runoff". nymag.com. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  29. ^ "Our Campaigns - Container Detail Page". ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  30. ^ Charles Bethea (March 3, 2017). "Can This Democrat Win the Georgia Sixth?". The New Yorker.
  31. ^ Paul Kane (May 20, 2017). "Analysis: For Democrats, special elections may be preview of 2018 campaigns". Washington Post.
  32. ^ Cristiano Lima (April 17, 2017). "Georgia Democrat rebuffs Trump: 'I don't have great personal admiration' for him". Politico.
  33. ^ a b Greenwood, Max (April 18, 2017). "Georgia Dem Ossoff: 'I don't have great personal admiration' for Trump". The Hill.
  34. ^ Alex Seitz-Wald (April 17, 2017). "Trump takes to Twitter to blast leading Dem as 'super Liberal'". NBC News.
  35. ^ a b c d e "Trump Distorts Ossoff's Record". FactCheck.org. Annenberg Public Policy Center. April 18, 2017. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  36. ^ a b Greg Bluestein (April 17, 2017). "How top Sixth District contenders stack up on healthcare, taxes and transportation". Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  37. ^ a b Greg Bluestein (May 30, 2017). "Ossoff on Trump impeachment: 'I don't think we're there'". Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  38. ^ a b c Rubin, Jennifer (April 17, 2017). "The Georgia special election shows why Trump may sink the GOP". The Washington Post.
  39. ^ Elise Viebeck & David Weigel (April 30, 2017). "GOP candidate now embracing Trump in Georgia's 6th District runoff". Washington Post.
  40. ^ Greg Bluestein (May 4, 2016). "A 6th District rift over the House healthcare plan in Tom Price's old turf". Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  41. ^ "Another Democrat Announces for Tom Price's Seat with some Hefty Advantages". Atlanta Journal Constitution. January 5, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
  42. ^ "About New Power PAC".
  43. ^ Kampeas, Ron (March 21, 2017). "A Jewish candidate gives Democrats hope in Atlanta's suburbs". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  44. ^ "Jon Ossoff engaged to long-time girlfriend amid 6th District Race". WAGA-TV. May 7, 2017. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  45. ^ Polus, Sarah; Polus, Sarah (May 8, 2017). "Democratic candidate for Georgia House seat Jon Ossoff engaged". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
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