6th Congressional District candidates face off in debate
The special election for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District feels like it has been going on forever, which might explain why both candidates know their rehearsed lines so well.
In the first of their two scheduled debates before the June 20 election, Jon Ossoff, the Democratic candidate, and Karen Handel, the Republican, largely rehashed the arguments they have aired in television ads and on the campaign trail.
Here’s our speed-read version of Tuesday night’s debate.
KOMEN VS. PELOSI
Handel has sought to brand Ossoff as a partisan Democrat supported by national liberals. At least a half-dozen times, she described Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the House minority leader, as Ossoff’s political patron — a sign of how radioactive Pelosi is in many precincts. And Handel branded Ossoff as “fake” for trying to pass himself off as an independent thinker.
Ossoff attacked Handel almost as insistently over her onetime role at the Susan G. Komen Foundation, where several years ago she was involved in an attempt to deny grant money to Planned Parenthood. He accused her of seeking to cut off access to breast cancer screenings and “impose her own views” on the health care system.
THE TOUGHEST EXCHANGE
Channeling Democrats’ determination to make health care a central issue in congressional elections, Ossoff aggressively went after Handel for the House-backed health care bill, which he said “guts protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions.”
Handel struggled to respond, veering from a personal testimonial — her sister, she said, has a serious pre-existing condition — to questioning the reliability of the Congressional Budget Office.
TIPTOEING AROUND TRUMP
Early in his campaign, Ossoff made himself a poster child for national Democrats by declaring that his victory would “make Trump furious.” But he sidestepped that claim on Tuesday night when a reporter asked Ossoff whether he stood by it.
“I don’t think that I will get a congratulatory tweet from the president if I win,” Ossoff said carefully. “But I hope to have the opportunity to work with the president to get things done for Georgia.”
Handel, who has mostly embraced President Donald Trump during the campaign, had some gentle criticism for him.
“I think I would really like to recommend some Twitter policy changes,” she said. Sometimes, you should just put down the computer, the phone, and walk away.”
FENCING ON SECURITY, BUT WITH CLICHÉS
Ossoff has consistently favored strikes in Syria, while Handel has waffled. She has opposed the Iran deal, while he has been supportive. They disagree over the Trump administration’s proposed travel ban.
But for the most part, Handel and Ossoff stayed within the zone of bland and predictable platitudes on national defense: fund the military, support the intelligence community, work with allies.
WHO’S THE REAL GEORGIAN?
In a heavily nationalized election, both candidates tried hard to out-Georgia each other. Ossoff boasted of having “spent half of my life sitting in traffic” on Route 400, and noted he was born in the district, while Handel was born in Washington.
But Handel, who stressed her accomplishments in local office, may have delivered the easiest one-liner on the subject, bluntly asking Ossoff whom he intended to vote for in their contest. Ossoff, who lives just outside the 6th District, will not be casting a ballot in the race. Congressional candidates are not required to live in the district in which they run.
“I don’t think that I will get a congratulatory tweet from the president if I win.” — JON OSSOFF
“I think I would really like to recommend some Twitter policy changes.” — KAREN HANDEL