81,376 voters are 65 years of age or older.
The Trumpcare bill Karen Handel supports slashes revenue for Medicare, laying the groundwork for deep cuts further down the road. The Medicaid cuts pushed by Trump and his fellow Republicans would eliminate a major source of funding for the nursing home care used by many seniors. And Trump's budget would cut billions in funding from Social Security.
Ossoff could have run on strengthening Medicare's funding and expanding Social Security to meet our nation's retirement crisis. Instead, he chose to soft-pedal these issues, even though seniors are more likely than other eligible voters to show up at the polls on Election Day.
95,974 residents are African-American.
Despite the district's large black population, Ossoff did very little outreach to black voters. He spent heavily on television advertising and very little on get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts in predominantly African-American communities. He did not discuss racism, either individual or structural.
African-American working people struggle with the same burdens as workers of other races, and black college graduates have been especially ill-served by our system of student indebtedness. His silence on these issues undoubtedly also affected turnout in this group.
96,154 residents are Hispanic/Latino.
Again, it appears Ossoff conducted very little outreach to this group. Hispanics struggle with wage inequality, access to medical care, and environmental concerns, while struggling with issues of bigotry and hatred that have been inflamed by the current president and his party.
88,230 people in this district are between the ages of 45 and 64.
Many of these Georgians will be severely harmed financially if "Trumpcare," the Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, becomes law. Many "Medicare for All" proposals, on the other hand, suggest a phased-in approach that begins by making Medicare available to people 55 and older; some include younger ages as well.
Ossoff opposed Medicare for All. He also opposed Trumpcare, but did not make it a centerpiece of his campaign. His healthcare comments were often rhetorically indistinguishable from that of many Republicans, a point he emphasized himself early in the campaign.
"Responsible leaders of both parties agree that no American should face financial ruin, suffer or die because they have a pre-existing condition," Ossoff told an Atlanta newspaper early in the campaign.
Issues of wage stagnation have hit this age group heavily, but Ossoff did not run on raising wages or government investment in job growth.
131,586 people in the district are between the ages of 20 and 34.
Voters of all ages are struggling with the burden of student debt, but this age group has been hit especially hard. Total student debt in this country now exceeds $1.4 trillion, yet Ossoff did not make the issue a centerpiece of his campaign.
The debt issue has been made even worse for millennial college grads by the fact that they graduated into a weak job market. Ossoff could have campaigned on a platform of tuition-free higher education, combined with relief for student debt holders and a program for creating jobs and raising wages. And yet, despite the fact this this district includes many college graduates, he chose not to.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
