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Ossoff Touts Women Leading His 'Grassroots' Movement, Reminded by MSNBC His Opponent Is a Woman

April 19, 2017

Georgia Democratic congressional candidate Jon Ossoff touted the importance of women leading his "grassroots" movement on Wednesday, but MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle quickly reminded him that his opponent in the upcoming runoff will be a woman.

Ossoff, fueled by millions of dollars in outside donations, finished first in Tuesday night's special election race for Georgia's sixth congressional district, but he came up short of the 50 percent threshold necessary to clinch outright victory. His opponent in the June 20 runoff will be Karen Handel, the top Republican vote-getter.

Ossoff said that "grassroots intensity" would lead him to victory in June.

"This comes down to grassroots intensity," he said. "The thousands of volunteers and organizers, so much of it led by women who have been pounding the pavement and knocking on doors for months here in Georgia, and it's that kind of grassroots momentum that will carry us to victory on June 20."

"It was a woman, Karen Handel, who is well-known in your district, your opponent, she's going to be the person you're going to face in that runoff in June," Ruhle said, before playing an interview of Handel criticizing Ossoff for living outside of the district and receiving so many out-of-district donations.

As he has repeatedly said when confronted with the fact that he does not live in the district, Ossoff responded that he "grew up" there.

"I'm looking forward to what'll be a spirited debate," he said. "I'm looking forward to continuing to work with the team of thousands of folks who are giving so much to push us forward, to try to get some fresh leadership into Washington. I think we're going to win on June 20. I say bring it on."

Published under: Jon Ossoff , MSNBC