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Bob Gray (Georgia)
Bob Gray was a candidate who ran in the special election to represent the 6th Congressional District of Georgia. Gray was defeated in the April 18 election.[1]
Gray released a video on YouTube announcing his campaign on January 29, 2017. In the video, Gray listed the three priorities of his campaign:
- "Fuel the Economy
- Control Federal Spending
- Ensure National Security"
Gray also called for term limits, stating, "I won't run for more than four terms, or eight years."[2]
At a gathering of Republicans in March of 2017, he was quoted expressing his support for the president and mirrored some of his campaign rhetoric, saying "It’s time to stand with President Trump, and I intend to be a willing partner to move this country forward. It’s time to drain the swamp."[3]
Career
Below is an abbreviated outline of Gray's academic, professional, and political career:[4]
- Present: Serves on the board of directors of Ammacore, a network solutions company
- Over three decades of work as a business executive in the technology industry
- Graduated from the University of Chicago with an M.B.A. in finance
- Graduated from Purdue University with a B.S. in engineering
Elections
2017
| U.S. House, Georgia District 6 Special Election Runoff, 2017 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Karen Handel |
51.8% | 134,799 | |
| Democratic | Jon Ossoff | 48.2% | 125,517 | |
| Total Votes | 260,316 | |||
| Source: Georgia Secretary of State | ||||
Republican Karen Handel defeated Democrat Jon Ossoff in the June 20, 2017, special election runoff to represent the 6th Congressional District of Georgia.
It was the most expensive U.S. House race in history. The two campaigns, along with outside organizations, spent more than $50 million on the election.[5] Although Handel held the advantage with outside groups spending money on the race, the Democratic effort to flip this congressional seat, which has been held by a Republican since 1979, began early. Ossoff raised $8.3 million in the first quarter of 2017, where recent Democratic candidates raised no more than $45,000 in the general election. In April and May, Ossoff raised an additional $15 million.[6] Handel raised $4 million, relying on national political figures like President Donald Trump in May and Vice President Mike Pence in June to helm fundraisers.[7] Although Handel's fundraising paled in comparison to Ossoff's, she outraised recent Republican candidates by more than $2 million.
Tom Perez, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, said that his party's investment in the race was part of a larger effort to improve party infrastructure across the country. "We're investing heavily here in the Georgia six race, but I'm traveling across the country. We're building strong parties everywhere. That's what we have to do because that's where we fell short in the past. We allowed our basic infrastructure to, you know, to atrophy and we have to build strong parties," he said.[8] This spending was driven primarily by out-of-state contributions, which Handel and conservative outside organizations highlighted in critical campaign ads.
This special election was one of the first chances since 2016 for the Democratic Party to reduce the Republican House majority. When asked about the importance of the race, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R), who represented the district for two decades, told Ballotpedia, "I do think Republicans have to pay attention, and I think it would be a big mistake to allow this district to go to Ossoff, partly because of the psychology nationally, and partly because once a relatively talented person gets in office, it’s really hard to get rid of them."
The Democratic Party had not held Georgia's 6th District since before Gingrich's first election in 1978. However, Trump's victory margin of 1.5 percent over Hillary Clinton in the district in the 2016 presidential race signified that the district could be competitive. Comparatively, Mitt Romney (R) won the district by a margin of 23.3 percent in 2012, and John McCain (R) defeated Barack Obama (D) by 18 percent in 2008.[9][10] Republicans suggested that Ossoff's failure to win in the district, despite an infusion of cash, was evidence that Democrats would not have electoral success in 2018.
Ossoff was a first-time candidate who previously worked in D.C. as a legislative aide to Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) for five years and as a documentary producer. Ossoff campaigned against Trump's policies and emphasized small business growth, affordable healthcare, preserving Medicare and Medicaid, and national security. He was characterized as more of a centrist than a progressive by New York Magazine, The Washington Post, National Review, and The New York Times.[11] Handel, who served as the Georgia Secretary of State from 2007 to 2010, supported the Trump administration's position on healthcare and the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, although she rarely mentioned the president by name while campaigning.[12] She instead focused on promoting conservative principles and economic issues such as improving the tax code for small businesses.
This was the fourth congressional special election of the year and the third won by a Republican.
| U.S. House, Georgia District 6 Special Election, 2017 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Jon Ossoff |
48.1% | 92,673 | |
| Republican | Karen Handel |
19.8% | 38,071 | |
| Republican | Bob Gray | 10.8% | 20,802 | |
| Republican | Dan Moody | 8.8% | 17,028 | |
| Republican | Judson Hill | 8.8% | 16,870 | |
| Republican | Kurt Wilson | 0.9% | 1,820 | |
| Republican | David Abroms | 0.9% | 1,639 | |
| Democratic | Ragin Edwards | 0.3% | 504 | |
| Democratic | Ron Slotin | 0.3% | 491 | |
| Republican | Bruce LeVell | 0.2% | 455 | |
| Republican | Mohammad Ali Bhuiyan | 0.2% | 415 | |
| Republican | Keith Grawert | 0.2% | 415 | |
| Republican | Amy Kremer | 0.2% | 351 | |
| Republican | William Llop | 0.2% | 326 | |
| Democratic | Rebecca Quigg | 0.2% | 304 | |
| Democratic | Richard Keatley | 0.1% | 229 | |
| Independent | Alexander Hernandez | 0.1% | 121 | |
| Independent | Andre Pollard | 0% | 55 | |
| Total Votes | 192,569 | |||
| Source: Georgia Secretary of State | ||||
Heading into the April 18 election, Gray was one of four Republican front-runners in the race. He was defeated by Jon Ossoff (D) and Karen Handel (R). He was endorsed by the Club for Growth and had consistently ranked third in polling, behind Ossoff (D) and Karen Handel (R). Gray was the only one of Republican front-runners who had held no political office in the past and ran as a political outsider.
Endorsements
- The Club for Growth - "Bob Gray is the proven economic conservative in this race. He’s been a consistent fighter for lower taxes and less spending, and he’s campaigned on pro-growth policies, and has called for a full and immediate repeal of Obamacare."[13]
Fundraising
Heading into the election, Jon Ossoff (D) led the field in fundraising by a substantial margin, raising over $8.3 million. Over $5.6 million of that sum was from individual donations of less than $200, which means that detailed information about those donors is unavailable as the FEC does not require donations of less than $200 to be itemized. Of the remaining money, nearly 25 percent came from in-state. Roughly 20 percent came from California, 16 percent from New York, 6 percent from Massachusetts, and 3 percent from Illinois. Dan Moody (R) raised over $2 million, 95 percent of which was self-funded. Bob Gray's (R) contributions totaled $717,500, and he loaned his campaign $500,000. Nearly 60 percent of the remaining money he raised came from Georgia. Judson Hill (R) and Karen Handel (R) raised $523,032 and $463,744, respectively. Hill raised roughly 85 percent of his money from inside the state, while Handel received nearly 90 percent of her donations from within Georgia.[14][15][16]
Full data for all candidates who filed with the FEC is displayed below.
| Pre-Special FEC Report | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on Hand |
 Jon Ossoff |
$8,320,693 | $6,183,941 | $2,136,751 |
 Bob Gray |
$717,500 | $321,028 | $396,472 |
| Karen Handel |
$463,744 | $279,767 | $183,977 |
| Judson Hill |
$523,032 | $359,210 | $163,822 |
| Dan Moody |
$2,025,263 | $1,865,030 | $160,232 |
| David Abroms |
$260,902 | $155,412 | $105,490 |
| Mohammad Ali Bhuiyan |
$32,785 | $26,068 | $6,716 |
| Keith Grawert |
$51,402 | $34,106 | $17,296 |
| Amy Kremer |
$19,852 | $15,233 | $4,618 |
| Kurt Wilson |
$319,068 | $199,149 | $119,919 |
| Richard Keatley |
$15,890 | $9,349 | $6,540 |
| Ron Slotin |
$78,427 | $70,522 | $7,905 |
 Alexander Hernandez |
$5,666 | $5,944 | $41 |
| Andre Pollard |
$5,250 | $5,250 | $0 |
Polls
Runoff polling (Handel v. Ossoff)
| Georgia's 6th District special election runoff | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Karen Handel | Jon Ossoff | Undecided | Margin of Error | Sample Size | ||||||||||||||
| WSB-TV / Landmark Communications June 19, 2017 | 48.9% | 49.0% | 2.1% | +/-4.4 | 500 | ||||||||||||||
| The Trafalgar Group June 17-18, 2017 | 50.5% | 48.6% | 1.0% | +/-2.9 | 1,100 | ||||||||||||||
| WSB-TV / Landmark Communications June 15, 2017 | 48.0% | 49.7% | 2.3% | +/-3.46 | 800 | ||||||||||||||
| Fox 5 / Opinion Savvy June 15, 2017 | 49.4% | 49.7% | 1.0% | +/-4.2 | 537 | ||||||||||||||
| The Trafalgar Group June 10-13, 2017 | 47.3% | 50.2% | 2.3% | +/-2.9 | 1,100 | ||||||||||||||
| 11 Alive / Survey USA June 7-11, 2017 | 47% | 47% | 6% | +/-4.5 | 700 | ||||||||||||||
| WSB-TV / Landmark Communications June 6-7, 2017 | 47.1% | 49.6% | 3.3% | +/-4.78 | 420 | ||||||||||||||
| The Atlanta Journal-Constitution June 5-8, 2017 | 44% | 51% | 5% | +/-4.0 | 745 | ||||||||||||||
| WSB-TV / Landmark Communications May 30-31, 2017 | 47.6% | 49.1% | 3.3% | +/-4.38 | 500 | ||||||||||||||
| Survey USA May 16-20, 2017 | 44% | 51% | 6% | +/-4.3 | 549 | ||||||||||||||
| Gravis Marketing May 8-10, 2017 | 45% | 47% | 8% | +/-3.3 | 870 | ||||||||||||||
| WSB-TV / Landmark Communications May 3-4, 2017 | 49.1% | 46.5% | 4.4% | +/-3.96 | 611 | ||||||||||||||
| GBA Strategies April 29 - May 1, 2017 | 48% | 50% | 2% | +/-4.9 | 400 | ||||||||||||||
| Note: A "0%" finding means the candidate was not a part of the poll. The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org | |||||||||||||||||||
Pre-April 18 election polling
Using the last five polls prior to the April 18 special election, Ballotpedia compared polling averages with election results. Of the polls analyzed, all of them underestimated the support for Democrat Jon Ossoff and all but one of them underestimated the support for Republican Karen Handel. Polling averages for Ossoff and Handel were below election results by 6.0 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively.
| Candidate | Polling average | Election results | Polling accuracy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jon Ossoff |
42.0% | 48.1% | -6.0% |
| Karen Handel |
16.8% | 19.8% | -3.0% |
| Bob Gray |
12.4% | 10.8% | +1.6% |
| Judson Hill |
8.8% | 8.8% | +0.0% |
| Dan Moody |
9.0% | 8.8% | +0.2% |
| Georgia's 6th District special election (2017) | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Jon Ossoff | Karen Handel | Bob Gray | Judson Hill | Dan Moody | Bruce LeVell | Amy Kremer | Ron Slotin | David Abroms | Kurt Wilson | Unsure or Other | Margin of Error | Sample Size | ||||||
| Clout Research/Zpolitics April 14-15, 2017 | 41.3% | 15.3% | 16.6% | 9.7% | 9.1% | 0.8% | 0% | 0.7% | 2.9% | 0% | 3.6% | +/-4.58 | 453 | ||||||
| Fox 5/Opinion Savvy April 13, 2017 | 41.5% | 21.2% | 10.6% | 11.3% | 9.4% | 0% | 0% | 0.3% | 0.6% | 0.8% | 3.2% | +/-4.6 | 437 | ||||||
| WSB-TV April 12-13, 2017 | 45.3% | 17.4% | 8.6% | 8% | 8.4% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 1.6% | 1.5% | 1% | 7.2% | +/-4.2 | 500 | ||||||
| RRH Elections/Decision Desk HQ April 5-10, 2017 | 39% | 15% | 12% | 10% | 11% | 0% | 0% | 4% | 3% | 0% | 6% | +/-5 | 321 | ||||||
| 11 Alive/SurveyUSA March 27-April 2, 2017 | 43% | 15% | 14% | 5% | 7% | 1% | 1% | 0% | 2% | 1% | 7% | +/-4.5 | 503 | ||||||
| MoveOn.org/Lake Research Partners March 26-28, 2017 | 40% | 18% | 7% | 8% | 7% | 0% | 0% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 19% | +/-5.2 | 350 | ||||||
| Fox 5/Opinion Savvy March 22-23, 2017 | 39.8% | 19.9% | 10.4% | 9.5% | 8.0% | 0.4% | 0.1% | 1.3% | 1.6% | 1.8% | 5.8% | +/-4.5 | 462 | ||||||
| Clout Research March 15-16, 2017 | 40.9% | 16.1% | 15.6% | 9.2% | 5.1% | 0.6% | 0% | 2.9% | 1.7% | 0% | 7.9% | +/-3.8 | 625 | ||||||
| Trafalgar Group March 2-3, 2017 | 18.31% | 17.98% | 13.42% | 7.98% | 2.11% | 0.45% | 3.05% | 2.82% | 0% | 0% | 33.9% | +/-4.5 | 450 | ||||||
| Clout Research/Zpolitics February 17-18, 2017 | 31.7% | 24.9% | 10.6% | 9.2% | 2.0% | 1.2% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 20.4% | +/-3.7 | 694 | ||||||
| Note: A "0%" finding means the candidate was not a part of the poll. The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org | |||||||||||||||||||
Campaign themes
2017
The following issues were listed on Gray's campaign website. For a full list of campaign themes, click here.
| “ |
|
” |
| —Bob Gray's campaign website | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Bob Gray' Georgia Congress. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- United States House of Representatives
- Georgia's 6th Congressional District special election, 2017
- Georgia's 6th Congressional District
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Another Republican is in the race to succeed Tom Price," January 30, 2017
- ↑ YouTube, "Announcement - Bob Gray," January 29, 2017
- ↑ AJC Politics Blog, "Staff raids and social media hijinks: GOP infighting ramps up in Georgia Sixth," March 29, 2017
- ↑ Bob Gray for Congress, "Meet Bob," accessed March 29, 2017
- ↑ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Spending in Georgia Sixth race pushes past $50 million," June 19, 2017
- ↑ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Ossoff raises another $15M in Georgia 6th, setting new fundraising record," June 8, 2017
- ↑ The New York Times, "Ossoff Raises $23 Million in Most Expensive House Race in History," June 9, 2017
- ↑ CNN, "Democrat Narrowly Loses in Georgia; Interview with DNC Chair Tom Perez; Republican Wake-Up Call in Georgia; Hernandez Commits Suicide in Prison; Boxer Finds New Fight; Georgia Special Election," April 19, 2017
- ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections presents the 2016 presidential election results by congressional district," January 30, 2017
- ↑ Vox, "Georgia Dems normally raise $10,000 for this House seat. This April they’ll have $3 million." March 27, 2017
- ↑ New Republic, "The Enduring Mystery of Jon Ossoff," June 12, 2017
- ↑ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Enthusiastic or wary, Georgia Republicans come to terms with Trump," June 3, 2017
- ↑ The Hill, "Club for Growth endorses Trump-aligned candidate in GA special election," March 14, 2017
- ↑ All campaign finance data was obtained from the Federal Election Commission
- ↑ AJC.com, "Nearly 200k donors help Jon Ossoff net record fundraising haul in Georgia special election," April 5, 2017
- ↑ AJC.com, "A closer look at individual donors to Georgia District 6 campaigns," April 13, 2017
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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