David Perdue Now Trails Jon Ossoff as Stock Trading Scandal Haunts Incumbent

Republican Sen. David Perdue has fallen behind media executive Jon Ossoff in one of the two Georgia special election races. A new poll by the Trafalgar Group, a Republican leaning polling organization, has Ossoff ahead 48-47 among likely voters. And, to give you some idea about Trafalgar's GOP lean, they had Trump ahead by 5 points in Georgia just before the November 3rd election. Joe Biden ended up winning the state, of course.

Ossoff has hammered Perdue on his stock trading, especially at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, and the New York Times published an article this week that suggested that the Georgia incumbent had broadly profited from his work in the Senate.

New York Times: “Mr. Perdue’s transactions accounted for nearly a third of all senators’ trades reported in the past six years. His 2,596 trades, mostly in stocks but also in bonds and funds, roughly equal the combined trading volume of the next five most active traders in the Senate.” ...

“The data also shows the breadth of trades Mr. Perdue made in companies that stood to benefit from policy and spending matters that came not just before the Senate as a whole, but before the committees and subcommittees on which he served,”

And, on Thursday WXIA TV in Georgia reported that Sen. Perdue bought and sold stock in a company that sold “pain management alternatives to opioids” while his Senate committee was holding meetings on how to manage the opioid crisis in 2016. They noted that he made “substantial profits” from the trades.

Amid the growing allegations of corruption, Perdue has declined to debate Ossoff. It's becoming increasing clear why he might be a bit reluctant to defend his actions.

#news #politics

By: Don Lam & Curated Content

Photo credit: Ossoff, Twitter