Sen. David Perdue hopes to maintain 'outsider' appeal in re-election bid

ATLANTA - A day after officially securing the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, Sen. David Perdue did his first round of campaign interviews in nearly six years.

The Republican incumbent first ran for office in 2014 touting his status as a Washington outsider. His 2020 re-election bid promises to have a similar flavor.

"I remember in '14 as an outsider, entering this political process for the first time it was an alien world. It still feels like an alien world to me," said Sen. Perdue. "I mean, I'm still the outsider in the bellow of the beast up here."

Perdue's message may be the same, but the campaign will be anything but.  The coronavirus pandemic has put the brakes on any major rallies or in-person fundraising events.

"After COVID-19 this is a different time for all of us," said Perdue.  "We are, in terms of our campaign, going to more of a remote access.  We reached out during the pandemic in Georgia through these constituent conference calls we'd do at night to almost a million Georgians and we were able to hear from them their concerns and problems.  We were able to direct them to resources and places that they could get information.  So, this has been extremely enlightening.  This is a new day though and we're going to have find a way to be creative, to reach the voters and to make sure they understand what the election is all about."  

ELECTION RESULTS: All Races 2020 Georgia Primary

Sen. Perdue said problems at the polls on primary day were "outrageous, embarrassing and totally unacceptable." 

"This is a travesty. It's a mistake and it either happened by incompetence or malfeasance and I think somebody needs to get to the bottom of it," Perdue added.

He said there are a handful of counties that always have problems and blamed Democrat-controlled election boards in those communities for the ongoing issues.  The boards in Fulton and DeKalb counties, however, which were singled out by state leaders, have both Democrat and Republican board members. 

Sen. Perdue also now knows who his opponent will be in November with Democrat Jon Ossoff winning the primary outright. The incumbent senator issued the following statement regarding his opponent late Wednesday: 

“Georgia Democrats nominated a part-time filmmaker and liberal elite with zero real world accomplishments as their party’s standard bearer. Despite his privileged lifestyle funded with daddy's money, Jon Ossoff’s only notable achievement is spending millions of dollars on his failed Congressional bid,” said Perdue for Senate Campaign Manager Ben Fry. “Now more than ever, Georgians need outsider David Perdue and his experienced leadership in the U.S. Senate. While Jon Ossoff is a favorite of liberal elites and Hollywood celebrities, he will be nothing but a rubber stamp for Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and their radical agenda.”