Jon Ossoff tweets emoji of a chicken after Perdue won't participate in debate

Democratic Senate candidate Jon Ossoff stood alone on the debate stage Sunday night in Atlanta after his Republican challenger, Sen. David Perdue, declined to participate.

Prior to the event, Ossoff tweeted a chicken emoji and said Perdue's "handlers won't let him debate because he could incriminate himself on the Cardlytics emails, the submarine stock trades, or the Regions Bank deal — that alone is disqualifying."

Earlier this year, Perdue sold more than $1 million worth of stocks in Cardlytics, a financial company. In 2010, Perdue joined the board of Cardlytics, resigning when he was elected to the Senate in 2014 but still able to hold a stake in the company when it went public in 2018, The New York Times reports.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

During Sunday night's non-debate, Perdue was represented by an empty podium. Ossoff called Perdue "a coward" for not attending the event, and said he was "so arrogant that he's not with us here today to answer questions." He blasted Perdue for not doing more to pass a coronavirus economic relief bill in the Senate, and said Perdue feels "entitled to your vote. Your senator is refusing to answer questions and debate his opponent, because he believes he shouldn't have to; he believes the Senate seat belongs to him. The Senate seat belongs to the people."

In the November election, neither candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, triggering a runoff on Jan. 5.