Democrats see a bright spot in Georgia. With polls showing a close race, Democratic candidate Michelle Nunn has the chance to win a seat currently held by a Republican, giving her party a much needed opportunity to preserve their majority in the Senate.
Like many Senate races around the country, Nunn must first overcome being tied to President Barack Obama who is unpopular in the state. She is doing that by switching her attention away from herself and highlighting her opponent’s background as a business executive.
Perdue has come under fire for saying in a deposition in 2005 that he spent “most of his career” outsourcing jobs, a phrase he recently defended.
As NBC News pointed out, that’s a salient argument in a state with the highest unemployment rate in the country.
“That’s right, under oath David Perdue admitted he spent most of his career outsourcing jobs overseas to places like China and Mexico,” the narrator says in one of Nunn’s ads attacking Perdue.
Perdue, meanwhile, is now trying to reverse the stigma as a wealthy, out of touch executive. He released an ad Saturday that portrays him as someone who understands the challenges of the middle class while insisting Nunn doesn’t.
“Like you, David Perdue believes President Obama and Michelle Nunn’s policies are taking our country in the wrong direction,” the narrator says.
The catch with Georgia, however, is that one candidate has to receive more than 50 percent of the vote on November 4th or the race goes to a runoff on January 6 – after the new Senate is sworn in.
Polls are showing the race between Nunn and Perdue extremely close with both candidates polling in the mid 40 percent range. Third party candidate, Libertarian Amanda Swafford, is polling around 4 percent.
A gubernatorial race is also playing out in Georgia, also with a famous family name. Jason Carter, President Jimmy Carter’s grandson, is trying to unseat incumbent Republican Nathan Deal. Carter could get a boost from the get out the vote efforts and other resources national Democrats are giving to Nunn. But this race could go to a runoff, too.
Cook Political Report rates this race a tossup and third party candidate, Libertarian Andrew Hunt, polling around 4.5 percent.
