Ossoff wins Senate primary in Georgia outright


Jon Ossoff won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Georgia outright on June 9, having received more than 50% of the vote. The Associated Press called the race on June 10 as votes continued to be counted.

With 95% of precincts reporting, Ossoff received 51.1% of votes. Teresa Tomlinson was second with 15%, and Sarah Riggs Amico received 12.6%. Seven candidates ran in the primary.

Ossoff worked as an investigative journalist and ran in the 2017 special election for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District—the most expensive House race in history as of the 2020 primary. Ossoff says he has experience fighting corruption and that “we’re building a movement to mount an all-out attack on corruption in Washington.”

Tomlinson, former mayor of Columbus, Georgia, said she was the only candidate “who’s ever won an election, and I’m the only one who’s ever served in elected office,” saying that experience was needed to defeat incumbent David Perdue (R). Tomlinson said, “From the beginning, this battle has been Ossoff’s 2017 national fundraising network vs. our ‘For Georgians, by Georgians’ campaign.”

Perdue was elected in 2014 with 53% of the vote to Democrat Michelle Nunn’s 45%. Three election forecasters rate the general election Lean or Likely Republican.