Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue admitted that some Georgia Republican voters may be reticent to support a Republican in light of President Donald Trump’s controversial administration.
“I know some of you out there, some Republicans, may even be turned off by our president,” Perdue said Saturday during a campaign event for Karen Handel who is running for the open House seat in Georgia against Democrat Jon Ossoff.
“This is a race for the heart and soul for America,” Perdue said. The runoff election for the Georgia 6th congressional district will be held Tuesday.
Perdue, former governor of Georgia, told potential voters that Ossoff is little more than a puppet of the Democratic party.
“The leftists have gone and typecast, and they’ve picked this young man — charismatic, articulate — and they’ve taught him a few Republican buzzwords,” Perdue said. “They think he can fool you. It’s not gonna happen.”
The runoff election is too close to call, according to pollsters at FiveThirtyEight, though Ossoff had a slight lead last week. (RELATED: Watch Jon Ossoff Lose The Entire Special Election Debate In Less Than Four Minutes [VIDEO])
As with other special elections this year, the Georgia runoff is seen as an early test for Trump’s popularity in traditionally Republican districts, and as such, has attracted national attention. Ossoff’s campaign coffers have been filled with a record amount of out-of state donations. Only about $530,000, or roughly 3.5 percent of the $15 million donated to his campaign came from Georgia donors, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (RELATED: Ossoff Sets Record For Out-Of-State Donations)
Handel has gotten support from top names in Trump’s administration like Perdue and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, but Handel herself has taken a moderate tone in aligning herself with Trump.
“The race is not about Donald Trump,” Handel said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “It is about who people believe is best suited to represent the interests of the district.”
Ossoff nearly won the first Georgia election earlier this year with a plurality of the vote. He received 48 percent of the vote, just shy of the 50 percent required for election. Handel won 20 percent of the vote, more than any of the other 11 Republican candidates on the ballot, triggering the runoff.
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