Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff is on track to set a record for the percentage of out-of-state donations for a congressional race, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Donations to his campaign from California and New York is quadruple that of Georgia residents.
Just $530,000 (3.5 percent) of Ossoff’s latest $15 million was given by Georgia donors, a percentage that is smaller than any other campaign on record with Open Secrets. Over 14 percent of the contribution given to the Georgia Democrat have come from New York and California.
Ossoff faces Republican Karen Handel in a special election for the state’s 6th Congressional District, which was previously held by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, and Newt Gingrich prior that.
“At least as of the previous financial disclosure, many more Georgians contributed to my campaign than to Secretary Handel’s. And when you’ve got $20, $30 million of attack ads coming in from Washington super PACs on her behalf, it’s necessary to raise the resources to defend myself,” Ossoff told the AJC. “I’m proud of the fact that the campaign is powered by small dollar, grassroots fundraising.”
Handel raised $4.5 million from April through May, and $991,000 of the contributions came from Georgians. Out-of-state donors from Virginia, Maryland and D.C. composed 11 percent of her haul.
“Jon Ossoff has said he’s going to be beholden to his small dollar donors. That’s telling, given that 98.5% of his donors are from outside of Georgia, and concentrated in liberal bastions like San Francisco and Massachusetts. That’s why he’s afraid to debate on CNN, as he can’t let those who have invested in a ‘Resistance Summer’ see that he’s pretending to be something other than he promised in his fundraising appeals,” Handel’s campaign said in a statement.
Ossoff has been criticized for not living in the district he is running in as well as exaggerating his national security record, but with just one week until election day, he currently leads Handel in polls by 6 points.