Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff (at center), with supporters

One piece just clicked into place for investigative filmmaker Jon Ossoff: On Tuesday, fellow Democrat Josh McLaurin dropped out of the expected special election for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District and endorsed Ossoff, a former staffer for Reps. John Lewis and Hank Johnson, in his stead. McLaurin, a local attorney and political novice, said he "promised to step aside if a clear frontrunner emerged" in order to maximize the chances that a Democrat would make the runoff, and he called Ossoff precisely that frontrunner.

That's a selfless attitude that the Democratic Party—hell, all humanity—could use more of. As we've noted before, if Rep. Tom Price is confirmed as Donald Trump’s healthcare czar, all candidates from all parties would run on a single ballot in a special election, with the top two vote-getters advancing to a runoff regardless of party if no one clears 50 percent. With too many Democrats in the field, there's a good chance the left-leaning vote could get split and send two Republicans to the second round. McLaurin wisely understood this problem and instead chose to be part of the solution.

However, two other Democrats are still in the race, former state Sen. Ron Slotin and former state Rep. Sally Harrell. But Ossoff's campaign is unquestionably the furthest along: He launched with an endorsement from Lewis (who's been in the news a little bit lately, you might have seen), said he's already secured $250,000 in donation pledges, and is the only candidate to hire professional staff so far, including fundraisers who worked for Deborah Ross' Senate race in North Carolina and a pollster.

Given the compressed timeframes special elections always run on, plus the difficult odds Democrats face in this conservative district, Slotin and Harrell really need to think hard about whether they're helping the party by staying in the race, or whether they'd serve the cause better by following McLaurin's lead.