Rep. Eric Swalwell goes phone-banking for Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff

The California congressman joined nearly 100 volunteers Saturday.

ByABC News
June 18, 2017, 1:56 AM

— -- California congressman Eric Swalwell rolled up his sleeves and picked up the phone Saturday to encourage voters in Georgia's 6th Congressional District to vote in Tuesday's special election for Jon Ossoff, the Democrat vying to fill the House seat left vacant when President Trump tapped Republican Tom Price to serve as his Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Ossoff, a 30-year-old documentary-film producer and former congressional aide, is up against 55-year-old Republican Karen Handel, Georgia's former secretary of state.

Swalwell, who represents the San Francisco Bay area, tweeted a video of himself at a phone back at the IBEW Union Hall in Dublin, California, where he said nearly 100 people had gathered to phone voters in Georgia.

"What’s so amazing is that no one here has probably met Jon Ossoff, but they believe in his ability to work for this country, to reach across the aisle, and to do what we can to fight for working families again in this country," Swalwell said in the video. "Most of them told me today they have never been to Georgia’s 6th District, don’t know anyone who lives there, but they feel a sense of responsibility to do their part to help Jon."

Also rallying Saturday for Ossoff was civil rights icon John Lewis, the Atlanta congressman from the neighboring 5th district, who spent the day campaigning with the Democratic candidate.

"Let's honor him ... and who all who sacrificed with him" by casting a ballot, Ossoff said of Lewis at one campaign stop.

And on the Republican side, Health Secretary Tom Price and Agriculture Secretary and former two-term Georgia governor Sonny Perdue, headed to Georgia to campaign for Handel.

"The leftists have gone and typecast and they've picked this young man -- charismatic, articulate -- and they've taught him a few Republican buzzwords," Perdue told Handel supporters. "They think he can fool you. It's not gonna happen."

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