Democrat Ossoff Has Nine Times As Many Donors In California Than His Home State Of Georgia

Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff raised funds from 8.9 times as many donors in California than donors in Georgia between March 29 and May 31, according to his latest campaign finance reporting.

Ossoff, a 30-year old documentary filmmaker, faces Republican Karen Handel in a special election Tuesday to replace former Republican Rep. Tom Price who accepted President Donald Trump’s offer to serve as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.  

He reported 7,218 donations from the state of California and 808 donations from Georgia over the past two months, according to the Mercury News. Ossoff had over 3,000 donors in the San Francisco Bay area alone, nearly four times as many donors as he had in Georgia.

Overall, between March 29 and May 31, Ossoff reported $456,296.03 from California compared to $228,474.44 from Georgia. Ossoff received more than $220,000 from the Bay area alone. The Mercury News noted that the totals were only a fraction of the actual donations since he doesn’t have to report donations of less than $200.

The race between Ossoff and Handel for Georgia’s 6th district, a historically Republican enclave of suburban Atlanta communities, has become the most expensive congressional race in American history.

Ossoff’s $15 million haul brings his total recorded fundraising number to over $23 million. The political upstart raised a record $8.3 million in the first quarter of 2017 ahead of the April run-off. Handel has raised 4.2 million.

The Golden State isn’t the only place sending big money to Ossoff. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has poured at least $5 million into the race. National Democratic leaders have invested millions into the race, seeing it as not just a chance to steal a traditionally safe seat from Republicans, but also to send a message that voters are soundly rejecting President Donald Trump.

Handel has made a point to criticize Ossoff for the unprecedented financial support he’s received from outside the district.

“You might live just five miles outside of the district, but your values are nearly 3,000 miles away in San Francisco,” Handel said to Ossoff at a June 6 debate. “That’s why so many of your contributions have come from liberals from California, New York and Massachusetts.”

The two candidates are locked in a tight battle, with Ossoff edging Handel 49.7 percent to 48 percent according to a June 17 poll from WSB-Landmark Communications.

While the 6th district just narrowly supported Trump over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race, Price won the seat by 23 percentage points in November.

The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to the Ossoff campaign for comment but did not hear back by press time.