The “Lincoln Project,” a political action committee of former Republicans that raised tens of millions of dollars in 2020 to defeat President Donald Trump, has declared it will back Democrat Jon Ossoff in the upcoming Senate runoff in Georgia.
“We’re staying in the fight: to defeat Trumpism we must also defeat David Perdue,” the Lincoln Project tweeted Friday, referring to the current Republican incumbent. “Let’s elect Jon Ossoff.”
The Perdue-Ossoff race is headed to a runoff Jan. 5, as is the race between incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock. Under Georgia law, races are subject to a runoff if no candidate achieves a majority the first time around.
Perdue narrowly edged Ossoff in the current race; Warnock led Loeffler in their contest, though Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) split the vote.
If both Democrats win their respective races, the Senate would be deadlocked 50-50, with the vice president breaking a tie.
Ossoff, 33, has never held elected office. In 2017, he ran in a special election for Georgia’s 6th congressional district, despite living outside its boundaries. He lost to Republican Karen Handel, despite a massive influx of outside campaign donations.
The Lincoln Project has declared political war on what it calls “Trumpism,” promising to defeat supporters of the president.
Critics — left and right — have called the Lincoln Project “grifters,” noting that the founders of the effort have enriched themselves to no great effect.
Washington Examiner columnist Byron York mocked the Lincoln Project Friday for abandoning Republican priorities:
“The Lincoln Project said it would win over Republican voters from Donald Trump. Instead, Trump consolidated his base as the group burned $67 million that could’ve been spent better on real political organizing,” wrote David Sirota in the left-wing online magazine Jacobin on Friday, admonishing Democrats who donated to it.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.