Georgia Dems normally raise $10,000 for this House seat. This April theyll have $3 million.

[babylonsister]

Georgia Dems normally raise $10,000 for this House seat. This April they’ll have $3 million.
The anti-Trump resistance movement is about to get its first big electoral test.
Updated by Jeff Stein Mar 27, 2017, 9:00am EDT


ROSWELL, Georgia — On a sunny Sunday in mid-February, Carly Barber, 54, spends her morning and afternoon going door-to-door for Jon Ossoff, the leading Democrat running for the Georgia House seat vacated by former Rep. Tom Price, Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary.

Clipboard in hand, she laughs nervously as she marches up the steep gravel path to the first house on her list. She raps twice on the wood door frame, and shivers with a nervous jitter as someone inside approaches.

“I’ve never done this! What if they slam the door in my face?” says Barber, a government contractor with the CDC.

More than 7,000 people have already volunteered for Ossoff’s campaign, and he has raised more than $3 million — unprecedented numbers for the congressional district.

The April 18 special election in Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District is Democrats’ first chance to eat into Republicans’ House majority — and potentially preview the 2018 midterm elections. “Normally, a Democrat running for Price’s seat would be lucky to raise $10,000 to $20,000,” says Phil Lunney, legislative liaison for the Fulton County Democrats. “There’s been nothing like it here, at least in the 21st century.”

But the race, held in a deeply conservative district long dominated by Republicans, will also be a test of something equally vital — whether the grassroots anti-Trump activism can be translated into electoral success. Ossoff’s race is offering a test-run for whether the outpouring of energy in the streets can be harnessed by the Democratic Party, or if it will prove beyond the grasp of its politicians.

Barber’s very presence gives Democrats reason for optimism. This isn’t just her first time going canvassing for a candidate: She’s never even voted in a midterm election before. Her husband is a fervent Donald Trump supporter. Most of her friends in suburban Atlanta’s East Cobb neighborhood are Republicans. “I’d hang out with other women, and most of the time I’d keep my mouth shut because they’d just go on and on and on about how much they hate Clinton and Obama,” Barber said.

Barber said she realized she needed to do “something” after attending the women’s march in Atlanta with her daughter, who convinced her women’s reproductive health rights were under threat from the Republican Congress. Then Barber was invited by a friend to a Facebook group called, “The Liberal Moms of Roswell and East Cobb.” They keep its membership secret, since most of their husbands are Trump voters.

And though it’s her first time at canvassing, Barber is a quick study. She hits more than 50 homes on her first day — and vows to spend her Sundays until the election keeping up the fight.

more...

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/27/14977018/jon-ossoff-georgia-sixth

[dalton99a]

1. Fantastic news.

[Wounded Bear]

2. Great to see this shit in Red states/districts...

it's the kind of activism and enthusiasm we need.

[Go Vols]

3. K&R

[madville]

4. This will be one to watch for sure

He will likely face former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel in the June runoff.

If a 30 year old former Congressional aide in his first campaign for elected office can defeat a seasoned state Republican politician in this district then 2018 is looking better every day.

Of course Price used to win this district by 25-35% typically, it will all depend on enthusiasm and turnout.

[progressoid]

5. 7000 volunteers!

That's great. Hope this happens all across the country.

[Ilsa]

6. I believe he's polling ahead of (R) Moody.

Ossoff is running lots of great ads.

Work your Ossoff!

[greymattermom]

7. I'm going to meet him tomorrow night

I'll report back.