Story highlights Camerota pressed him on the broader impact of the local campaign

Ossoff also was asked about a recent ad that linked him to last week's baseball practice shooting

New York (CNN) As polls opened for a highly anticipated congressional runoff election in Georgia Tuesday, Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff demurred when asked by CNN's Alisyn Camerota about the race's national implications.

"The contrast in this district is between a career politician -- my opponent, Karen Handel, who is notorious for cutting off funding for life-saving breast cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood -- or a fresh voice who wants to work across the aisle to get things done, grow our local economy, (and) work to make health care more accessible and affordable for women and folks with pre-existing conditions," he said on "New Day."

Camerota pressed him on the broader impact of the local campaign, focusing on whether he saw his potential election in a traditionally red district as a referendum on President Donald Trump's performance in office. When he kept his response locally-focused, she reminded him the race has garnered massive amounts of interest and money from people outside the state.

"Out-of-state money has poured in on both sides. It's become a little bit of an arms race," the Democrat admitted. "I'm proud of the fact that my campaign is powered by small-dollar grassroots fundraising of an average contribution of less than $50 while my opponent's campaign has been bailed out by the same old special-interest super PACs peddling deception, fear-mongering and hate here in Georgia for months now."

"You want to see this race as about you against Karen Handel," Camerota pushed. "Understood. You've worked hard. But do you not see the national implications of this race, do you not think it's at all a referendum on Donald Trump?"

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