Trump plans to hold Handel fundraiser during Atlanta trip

President Donald Trump will hold a fundraiser for Republican Karen Handel’s campaign for Congress during his visit to Atlanta on Friday, as the White House wades deeper into the nationally-watched special election.

The fundraiser is scheduled for an Atlanta site after Trump’s keynote speech at a National Rifle Association convention at the Georgia World Congress Center, and it’s likely to bring a tide of cash for Handel’s campaign. A ticket starts at $2,700 and a host sponsorship will cost $25,000.

The invitation started making the rounds among GOP donors in Georgia on Tuesday evening. The Handel campaign confirmed the invitation but declined further comment.

Democrat Jon Ossoff nearly won last week’s special election to represent Georgia’s 6th District, missing the majority vote he needed by less than two points. The district, which stretches from east Cobb to north DeKalb, has been in Republican hands for decades, and Trump has made it a point of personal pride to keep it that way.

He unleashed a barrage of tweets and a robocall encouraging Republicans to vote last week and assailing Ossoff, a 30-year-old who has become a Democratic fundraising juggernaut and a face of the anti-Trump resistance.

At the same time, Handel has edged closer to Trump after beating out 10 other Republicans in a fierce contest for the No. 2 spot and a date in the June 20 runoff.

She ran as an independent-minded conservative who clashed with several of the pro-Trump loyalists in the contest. The strategy made political sense, as Trump struggled in the establishment-friendly district in November, barely edging out Hillary Clinton.

But she has embraced Trump more aggressively since locking in a runoff spot. The two talked by phone last week, and she said in an interview she would “of course” accept his help.