2020 Georgia Senate Candidate Guide
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AFFORDABLE CARE ACT – Support Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare?
Ossoff – Yes. Will “work to improve [ACA], not repeal it, so we can make affordable insurance and quality care available to all Americans.”
Perdue – No. Voted to repeal ACA. “The poorest among us will continue to be fined because they can’t afford Obamacare.”
CAMPAIGN FINANCE – Limit campaign donations? Require political ads to disclose largest funders?
Ossoff – Yes. “We must end Citizens United and get secret, dark money out of politics.”
Perdue – No position found.
CLIMATE CHANGE – Consider human-caused climate change a serious threat?
Ossoff – Yes. “Climate change is a major threat to our prosperity and our security,” part of “a broader environmental and ecological crisis.”
Perdue – No. “The scientific community is not in total agreement” about human cause. Supports Trump withdrawal from Paris Agreement.
CLIMATE CHANGE – Address as a top priority by taxing or limiting output of greenhouse gases, supporting renewable energy?
Ossoff – Yes. Will “deliver massive federal investment in clean energy, grid infrastructure, R&D.”
Perdue – Mostly no. Opposed Obama’s Clean Power Plan and limits on offshore drilling. Supports biomass investment.
COURTS – Pick Ruth Bader Ginsburg replacement now or let November winner choose? See CEEP Supreme Court guide.
Ossoff – Supports voting before the November election. “The choice for the future of the Supreme Court is clear, and our nation’s founding principles are at stake.”
Perdue – Wait. “We must let the people speak at the ballot box, and then let the court reflect the will of the newly-elected president and Senate.”
COVID-19 – Support administration’s response to coronavirus pandemic?
Ossoff – No. Calls the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic “gross incompetence.”
Perdue – Yes. Trump and Pence are “taking the coronavirus very seriously.” “We’ve done everything we could.”
COVID-19 Economic Response – Support administration’s economic response to coronavirus pandemic?
Perdue – Yes. Serves on Trump Economic Task Force. Trump “has taken unprecedented action to protect the American people; … now we’re working to safely reopen [and] help small businesses continue to weather this crisis.”
EDUCATION – Public funding for private or for-profit schools?
Ossoff – No position found. Focuses on increasing teacher pay and strengthening public schools.
Perdue – Yes. Supports “school choice,” including charter and private schools.
ENVIRONMENT – Tighten or loosen environmental regulations?
Ossoff – Tighten. Will work to reverse Trump “rollbacks of clean air, clean water, and fuel economy standards.”
Perdue – Mostly loosen. Roll back “stifling Obama-era regulations.” Against reducing waste and emissions. Reduce plastic waste in oceans.
FINANCIAL REGULATION – Tighten or loosen regulation of banks and credit card companies?
Ossoff – Tighten. Seeks more regulation of the banking system, reinstating Glass-Steagall Act.
Perdue – Loosen. Supports “rollback of federal banking regulations.” Calls Consumer Financial Protection Bureau “rogue agency.”
GAY RIGHTS – Support same-sex marriage, other gay rights issues?
Ossoff – Yes. For gay rights, marriage equality, gay couples adopting and Equality Act against discrimination for gender or orientation.
Perdue – No. Sees marriage as “between one man and one woman.” In legalizing same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court “overstepped” its role.
GUN CONTROL – Enact more restrictive legislation on guns?
Ossoff – Yes. Supports universal background checks, red-flag laws, closing gun-show loophole, as well as a ban on assault weapons.
Perdue – Mixed. “We have ample gun laws on the books;” … should enforce them. Supports some more stringent background checks.
IMMIGRATION – Path to citizenship for DACA participants brought to U.S. as children? Position on expanding border walls and limiting legal immigration?
Ossoff – Yes. “DREAMers are Americans,” “here to stay.” Supports “path to legal status for undocumented immigrants.” “Strong border security doesn’t require” sacrificing “our moral principles.”
Perdue – Mixed. Supports Trump proposal for DACA path to citizenship tied to cutbacks in legal immigration and funding for wall. DACA brings “chain migration.” Supported limiting visas to “create a merit-based immigration system.”
IMPEACHMENT – Support calling witnesses and convicting Trump on impeachment charges?
Ossoff – Yes. “If Trump pressured a foreign power to smear his political opponent … he should be impeached.”
Perdue – No on both. Called impeachment “a partisan political weapon … aimed at overturning the 2016 election.”
IRAN – Oppose military attacks on Iran without congressional approval?
Ossoff – No position found, although opposed Trump withdrawal from Iran nuclear treaty.
Perdue – No. Opposed bill to require approval. Supported 2020 attack; “justice has been served.”
LABOR – Support “right to work” laws, banning unions from mandating dues for workers they represent?
Ossoff – No position found. Has been endorsed by United Auto Workers.
Perdue – Yes. Co-sponsored National Right-to-Work Act.
LEGAL ABORTION – Keep legal or ban?
Ossoff – Legal. “I will only vote to confirm federal judges who pledge to uphold Roe v. Wade.”
Perdue – Ban. “Will continue fighting to protect the unborn.” Backed ban on most abortions after six weeks that the courts overturned.
MARIJUANA – Decriminalize or legalize?
Ossoff – Yes. “It’s past time to legalize, regulate and tax cannabis.”
Perdue – Medical yes. Supports access to medical marijuana. As of 2014, opposed recreational.
MINIMUM WAGE – Raise federal hourly minimum wage above current $7.25?
Ossoff – Yes. “Fight to make sure the minimum wage is a livable wage.”
Perdue – No recent position. In 2014 said if “increase the minimum wage, you will kill jobs.”
POLICE/COMMUNITY ISSUES – Restrict police use of force and increase public oversight?
Ossoff – Yes. “We urgently need a New Civil Rights Act to establish national standards for use [of] force by American police!”
Perdue – Mixed. “Do we need police reform? Absolutely. But … the vast majority of police officers protect us honorably.”
PLANNED PARENTHOOD – Support Planned Parenthood’s receiving public funds for non-abortion care?
Ossoff – Yes. Will defend Planned Parenthood’s “essential preventative and reproductive health care services.”
Perdue – No. Co-sponsored bill to end any federal funding of Planned Parenthood.
SAUDI ARABIA – Support blocking arms sales to Saudi Arabia?
Ossoff – Yes. Reject “regime that executes political dissidents, executes people for their sexuality” and brutally murders journalists.
Perdue – No. Voted in U.S. Senate against resolution blocking Saudi arms sales.
STUDENT FINANCIAL AID – Support free or subsidized tuition for lower-income individuals?
Ossoff – Yes. Supports debt forgiveness and making public college, state school, or trade school education “debt-free.”
Perdue – No. Promises of free tuition are what “the Soviets did in Russia, the Germans did in ’33,” and what the Cubans and Venezuelans did.
TAXES – Support administration’s $1.9 trillion (2017) tax cuts?
Ossoff – No. “We borrow trillions to cut taxes for the wealthy & powerful.”
Perdue – Yes. “The tax cuts passed by the U.S. Senate … are already having a positive impact across the country.”
VOTING RIGHTS – Strict ID and other rules to combat possible fraud, even if limiting access?
Ossoff – No. Criticizes “major purges” of voter rolls and “mass disenfranchisement.” Need a new Voting Rights Act.
Perdue – No position found. On chaotic GA primary, “more than 150 counties didn’t have any problem. In a few we did. … This idea of voter suppression is a lie right out of the pit of hell.”
Campus Election Engagement Project is a nonpartisan effort to help colleges engage students in elections. Sources include Votesmart.org, FactCheck.org, Politifact.com and candidate statements. Vote411.org and Ballotready.org offer guides to local races.
