Five states hold primaries, Democratic hopeful Ossoff reemerges in Georgia Senate primary

Voters go to the polls Tuesday in five states that are holding primary elections, including Georgia where seven Democrats are vying to unseat incumbent GOP Sen. David Perdue. 

The four other states are Nevada, South Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia.

In Georgia, a top Democratic contender is Jon Ossoff. He lost a hotly contested special congressional election in 2017, in what became one of the most expensive House races in history.

Ossoff, then just 30, with his telegenic appearance and academic pedigree, drew widespread Democratic support and comparisons to the late-President Kennedy. 

He narrowly lost in a runoff race to Republican Karen Handel, in a de facto contest pitting President Trump’s policies against those of Democrats and their interest groups, which contributed millions of outside money to help the Ossoff campaign.

Democrats in recent election cycles have been optimistic about turning the Red state to Blue and see this year’s general election Senate race as a path toward taking control of the GOP-held chamber. 

In South Carolina, four Republicans are competing Tuesday to unseat Democratic incumbent Rep. Joe Cunningham. He won the state’s 1st Congressional seat in 2018, after Republicans held it for nearly four decades. 

Politico has listed the race as a toss-up. Among the top GOP candidates against Cunningham are state Rep. Nancy Mace and Chris Cox, founder of Bikers for Trump.