4 for 4. So much Winning!!
Republican Karen Handel has won Georgia’s special election, holding off the most well-funded House candidate in history and deflating Democrats who yearned for a special election rebuke to President Donald Trump.
Handel, who previously served as Georgia’s secretary of state, had 52 percent of the vote to Democrat Jon Ossoff’s 48 percent when the Associated Press called the race late Tuesday night after a six-month campaign in which Republicans hammered Ossoff as an ill fit for a traditionally conservative district.
With her win, Handel protected Republicans’ 24-seat House majority and their hold on the 6th District in Atlanta’s northern suburbs, a traditionally GOP seat that looked to be slipping from the party when Trump only carried it by 2 points in November. Democrats, spying an opening, poured millions of dollars into the special election when former Rep. Tom Price resigned to join Trump’s cabinet as the secretary of Health and Human Services. Ossoff, a former congressional aide and documentary filmmaker, captured the anti-Trump fervor coursing through the Democratic Party and raised over $23 million for his campaign.
While Handel’s victory only brings the Republican House majority back to its baseline level after the 2016 election, it denied Democrats a momentum boost toward the 2018 midterms and a victory that party activists dearly seek after five months of GOP control in Washington. The GOP has now won each House special election of 2017, after Trump selected a handful of congressmen from conservative seats for his Cabinet — though Republicans had a close call in South Carolina Tuesday night, where Republican Ralph Norman won the state’s 5th District by a surprisingly close 3-point margin.
Handel’s win also comes at a critical time for congressional Republicans, who have gotten bogged down trying to pass major legislation, including on health care.
Turnout soared in the special election, with Republican outside groups spending millions of dollars to drive more GOP voters to the polls this time than in the April primary. Ossoff and Handel finished first and second in the all-party primary two months ago, setting up Tuesday’s runoff — though Ossoff came just a few thousand votes short of winning the district outright in April. Ossoff held an edge in most public polling during the runoff, but Handel closed the gap just before Election Day.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/20/georgia-election-results-ossoff-handel-239778
Republican Karen Handel has won Georgia’s special election, holding off the most well-funded House candidate in history and deflating Democrats who yearned for a special election rebuke to President Donald Trump.
Handel, who previously served as Georgia’s secretary of state, had 52 percent of the vote to Democrat Jon Ossoff’s 48 percent when the Associated Press called the race late Tuesday night after a six-month campaign in which Republicans hammered Ossoff as an ill fit for a traditionally conservative district.
With her win, Handel protected Republicans’ 24-seat House majority and their hold on the 6th District in Atlanta’s northern suburbs, a traditionally GOP seat that looked to be slipping from the party when Trump only carried it by 2 points in November. Democrats, spying an opening, poured millions of dollars into the special election when former Rep. Tom Price resigned to join Trump’s cabinet as the secretary of Health and Human Services. Ossoff, a former congressional aide and documentary filmmaker, captured the anti-Trump fervor coursing through the Democratic Party and raised over $23 million for his campaign.
While Handel’s victory only brings the Republican House majority back to its baseline level after the 2016 election, it denied Democrats a momentum boost toward the 2018 midterms and a victory that party activists dearly seek after five months of GOP control in Washington. The GOP has now won each House special election of 2017, after Trump selected a handful of congressmen from conservative seats for his Cabinet — though Republicans had a close call in South Carolina Tuesday night, where Republican Ralph Norman won the state’s 5th District by a surprisingly close 3-point margin.
Handel’s win also comes at a critical time for congressional Republicans, who have gotten bogged down trying to pass major legislation, including on health care.
Turnout soared in the special election, with Republican outside groups spending millions of dollars to drive more GOP voters to the polls this time than in the April primary. Ossoff and Handel finished first and second in the all-party primary two months ago, setting up Tuesday’s runoff — though Ossoff came just a few thousand votes short of winning the district outright in April. Ossoff held an edge in most public polling during the runoff, but Handel closed the gap just before Election Day.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/20/georgia-election-results-ossoff-handel-239778