Against the backdrop of burning streetscapes and anti-police protests, U.S. Sen. David Perdue’s latest ad claims Democrat Jon Ossoff “speaks hate” and wants to defund the police.
With polls showing a neck-and-neck race, the first-term Republican’s ad embraces the law-and-order argument that President Donald Trump’s campaign in Georgia recently de-emphasized. And it aims to use Ossoff’s words against him, with a snippet of the Democrat’s remarks at a forum earlier this year.
“You’re not just going to get beaten,” Ossoff says in the clip, “you’re going to get beaten so bad you can never run or show your face in public.”
Ossoff has flatly rejected the notion that he wants to defund the police, saying that he shares Joe Biden’s stance of linking federal funds for law enforcement agencies to certain standards, including whether they can “demonstrate they can protect the community.”
Perdue’s campaign pointed to comments Ossoff made during an interview on WAOK radio where he said funding for police departments need to be “on the line.”
The Republican is trying to shift to the attack in his re-election campaign as Ossoff inches up in the polls, including an Atlanta Journal-Constitution survey this week that showed the two rivals in a tight race.
In a 30-second spot last week, Perdue accused Ossoff of “lying” about stock trades in the runup to the coronavirus pandemic that have been a key part of the Democrat’s line of attack.
“David Perdue’s latest ads are pathetic,” said Ossoff spokeswoman Miryam Lipper. “If you don’t think you can win without lying and manipulating video of your opponent, then you should probably do some soul searching about whether you should even be running at all.”
The clip played at the end of Perdue’s newest ad came at the tail end of a January forum in Dunwoody featuring Ossoff and three of his primary rivals trying to fire up Democratic voters.
“It’s not enough to beat Donald Trump,” said Ossoff. “We need to send a message that if you indulge in this type of politics, you’re not just going to get beaten. You’re going to get beaten so bad, you can never run or show your face again in public.”
See the ad, called “Radical,” here:
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