Skip to content

GOP Super PAC Releases Closing Ad Against Jon Ossoff

Congressional Leadership Fund is spending $7 million in Georgia race

Screenshot of CLF ad.
Screenshot of CLF ad.

The biggest outside spender in Georgia’s 6th District race is taking one final shot at Democrat Jon Ossoff.

Congressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC backed by House GOP leadership, is launching its final TV ad in the race Tuesday, with just a week to go until the June 20 runoff. 

Part of CLF’s $7 million independent expenditure in the district, the ad returns to one of the group’s earliest attacks against Ossoff — namely that he’s “not ready for Congress.”

The first outside group to invest in the open-seat race, CLF debuted that line of attack in March, trying to paint Ossoff as young and inexperienced and accusing him of exaggerating his national security credentials. That’s been a consistent GOP hit on the 30-year-old first-time candidate.

In Tuesday’s ad, CLF accuses Ossoff of declining to participate in a CNN debate “because he doesn’t want to answer the tough questions.” Ossoff’s campaign has said that it would only participate in debates moderated by “the metro Atlanta press corps.”

The ad also goes after the former Hill staffer for not living in the district. Ossoff lives just outside the 6th District with his fiance, who is attending medical school at Emory University. 

It wouldn’t be a CLF spot without a reference to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. The super PAC’s earlier ads — shot in San Francisco — have tried to tie Ossoff to the California Democrat. “He’d rubber-stamp Nancy Pelosi’s liberal agenda,” the narrator says.

“Whether it’s exaggerating his resume or hiding his stance on key issues, Jon Ossoff continues to prove that he’s simply not ready to represent Georgia families in Congress,” CLF Executive Director Corry Bliss said in a statement.  

The race for the 6th District, previously represented by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, has become the most expensive House race in history.

Ossoff has raised more than $23 million. GOP nominee Karen Handel, who defeated 11 other Republicans in the April primary, raised a little more than $4 million during the same period. Republicans have knocked Ossoff for raising most of his money from out-of-state donors, but Handel has also benefitted from major spending from outside GOP groups, like Congressional Leadership Fund. 

Recent Stories

Rule for debate on war supplemental heads to House floor

Democratic lawmaker takes the bait on Greene ‘troll’ amendment

Kansas Rep. Jake LaTurner won’t run for third term

At the Races: Impeachment impact

Capitol Lens | Striking a pose above the throes

Democrats prepare to ride to Johnson’s rescue, gingerly