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Republican Handel Takes Georgia's Sixth Congressional District

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Jeff PowersJeff Powers
Published: 20 Jun, 2017
1 min read

More than $50 million was spent on Georgia's Sixth Congressional District special election.

For Democrats, a win would have been a sign that the Trump resistance is translating into tangible electoral gains.

For Republicans, it is a sign that despite the harsh media rhetoric towards the President and their party, they continue to win congressional seats.

The timing of Karen Handel's win could also impact the national conversation over health care, as Senate Republicans are about to roll out their repeal of Obamacare this week.

Democrats will spin Jon Ossoff's loss by saying that it shouldn't have been this close. That a district long dominated by Republicans, in particular Newt Gingrich, should never have resulted in a narrow win, and thus showing a weakness in the president and the Republican Party.

Republicans will counter that despite tens of millions of dollars from special interests, Ossoff couldn't cash in.

Ossoff, a 30-year-old investigative filmmaker, quickly became a rising Democratic star. With a carefully calibrated message, Ossoff shattered fundraising records as he appealed to liberals from coast to coast who have been infuriated by Trump and GOP voters frustrated at Washington gridlock.

Handel ran in this contest as a traditional conservative voice who backed Trump and his priorities while saying she won’t be an “extension” of the White House.She also attacked Ossoff as an inexperienced stooge of national Democrats funded by out-of-state interlopers. At every turn, she sought to remind voters that Ossoff lived outside the district and that his values were “3,000 miles away.”It was a good night for Republicans as Ralph Norman won South Carolina’s special House election to replace Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney in Congress. Norman defeated Democrat Archie Parnell in South Carolina’s 5th Distrct. Norman had 52 percent of the vote to Parnell’s 48 percent.

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