ATLANTA – U.S. Senate Democratic nominee Jon Ossoff raised more than $3.45 million during the last three months in his bid to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. David Perdue, the Ossoff campaign reported Wednesday.
More than $2.35 million of that amount came during the three weeks since Ossoff captured his party’s nomination, avoiding a runoff by winning nearly 53% of the vote in a crowded Democratic primary field.
Democrats have grown increasingly confident that they can compete this year with the long-dominant GOP in Georgia. Besides Ossoff’s fund-raising prowess, they point to a $457,000 ad buy in the Peach State by President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign as evidence Republicans believe they need to shore up their support in Georgia.
“Georgia is the premier battleground state in 2020, and we are building a grassroots movement to defeat Senator Perdue and deliver a government that works for the people,” said Ellen Foster, Ossoff’s campaign manager. “Jon’s message of ensuring every Georgian has health care, passing a new Civil Rights Act and new Voting Rights Act, and reforming our corrupt campaign-finance system is clearly resonating with Georgia voters, and our unstoppable momentum will lead us to victory in November.”
Ossoff’s average contribution during the second quarter was about $20. The investigative journalist is not accepting donations from corporate political action committees.
Despite Ossoff’s strong fund-raising since his June 9 primary victory, he still has a long way to go to match Perdue.
The first-term senator had raised more than $13.4 million through May 20, according to the pre-primary campaign-finance disclosure report he filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Perdue had almost $9.4 million on hand at that time.
The deadline for filing second-quarter reports with the FEC is July 15.