MARKING YOM HASHOAH, PAGES 15-22 PIANO MAN HONORED HEROINE SAVING STORIES
Liliane Baxter retires from sharing the Holocaust’s Jewish perspective. Page 15
Billy Joel’s path to stardom began with a family piano bought in Berlin. Page 16
A ceremony will recall a Catholic who helped save 2,500 Jewish children. Page 22
Atlanta VOL. XCII NO. 16
WWW.ATLANTAJEWISHTIMES.COM
APRIL 21, 2017 | 25 NISAN 5777
Ossoff Just Misses Flipping the 6th, Faces Handel Next Jewish Democrat Jon Ossoff easily won the special election for suburban Atlanta’s 6th Congressional District but appeared to fall tantalizingly short Tuesday, April 18, of the majority he needed to avoid a runoff, to be held June 20 against Republican Karen Handel. With 95 percent of the precincts counted, Ossoff had 88,562 votes, 48.6 percent of the total, while Handel had 35,502 votes (19.5 percent). “We have defied the odds. We have shattered expectations. We are changing the world,” Ossoff said. Handel, the former secretary of state, finished well ahead of fellow Republicans Bob Gray (10.5 percent), Judson Hill (9 percent) and Dan Moody (8.7 percent) to set up a two-month, heads-up campaign for the seat Tom Price vacated to become President Donald Trump’s health and human services secretary. The result provided a birthday present for Handel, who faced a flurry of attack ads from fellow Republicans. “It is important for Republicans to come together in unity because now it rises above just one person,” she said. “Two different résumés are being presented with two very different qualifications.” The outcome also keeps alive the possibility of Georgia’s first Jewish congressman since Democrat Elliott Levitas lost a bid for a sixth term in 1984.
Photo by Patrice Worthy
Jon Ossoff assures his supporters at the Crown Plaza Ravinia in Dunwoody that they will win in June if necessary.
Voters in the 6th, which sweeps from East Cobb through North Fulton into North DeKalb and covers as much as half the population of Jewish Atlanta, are likely to see millions of dollars spent by national interests portraying the election as a referendum on Trump and such Democratic opponents as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. That national focus had a dramatic effect in the initial campaign as 11 Republicans, five Democrats and two independents vied for votes on the same ballot. With the early endorsement of Rep. John Lewis (D-Atlanta), Ossoff, 30, a former congressional aide to Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Lithonia), emerged as the
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choice of national Democrats dreaming of flipping a district that has voted Republican since 1978. Ossoff raised $8.3 million through the end of March. The National Republican Congressional Committee spent millions to tie Ossoff to Pelosi, mock his youth and point out that he can’t vote for himself because he lives outside the district. The relentless advertising for and against Ossoff steamrolled the other four Democrats, including another Jewish candidate, Ron Slotin, a former state senator. Slotin, Richard Keatley, Rebecca Quigg and Ragin Edwards combined to get less than 1 percent of the vote. A third Jewish candidate, newcomer
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David Abroms, was one of the many Republicans who failed to gain traction against former officeholders Handel, Moody and Hill. Gray, elected to the Johns Creek City Council in 2014, was the closest thing to an outsider to poll well. Abroms, who finished with about 0.85 percent, endorsed Handel for the runoff, calling her “a friend, a conservative and a woman of principle who will represent the 6th District well.” Voters in East Cobb and part of Sandy Springs also cast ballots for the state Senate’s 32nd District seat, which Hill resigned to run for Congress. Among five Republicans and three Democrats, including Jewish pediatrician Bob Wiskind, Democrat Christine Triebsch (24 percent) and Republican Kay Kirkpatrick (21.9 percent) advanced to a runoff May 16. Although little was made of it, the election took place on a Jewish holiday, the eighth day of Passover, forcing observant Jews to vote early or not at all. “The fact that there is a Democrat this close to 50 percent in a district that went more than 20 points for Tom Price means there are more Democrats ready to turn out, ready to work and ready to get it done,” state House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams said about Ossoff. “He presented a thoughtful campaign idea, he understood the breadth of the district, and he brought together holistic voters.” ■
PARALLEL LIVES
On the eve of the Atlanta Arab Festival, we look at the similarities between the Jewish and Arab communities, which remain split over Israel, the Palestinians and perhaps an inability to help each other. Page 12