Republican edges upstart Democrat in $50M Georgia election
BROOKHAVEN, GA. » President Donald Trump’s hopes of steadying his presidency and his agenda on Capitol Hill were given a lift Tuesday when a Republican won a special congressional election in the Atlanta suburbs.
Republican Karen Handel defeated Democrat Jon Ossoff in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, retaining a seat that has been in GOP hands since 1979, after a grueling, four-month campaign that earned the distinction of being the most expensive House race in history.
Handel’s win, projected by the Associated Press, will bring fresh attention to a beleaguered Democratic Party that has suffered a string of defeats in special elections this year despite an angry and engaged base of voters who dislike Trump.
It may also embolden Republicans in Washington to press ahead on an ambitious policy agenda that has yielded few legislative victories since Trump’s inauguration in January. Most immediately, the election result could bring momentum to Senate Republicans’ efforts this week to craft their version of a major revision to the Affordable Care Act.
Handel’s victory, however, revealed as much about Trump’s lingering problems among Republicans as it did the challenges facing Democrats. In a ruby-red district that her Republican predecessor won in November by 23 points, Handel struggled with Trump’s looming presence over the race. She won not with an embrace of the president but by barely mentioning his name.
Handel repeatedly ducked opportunities to echo Trump’s populist roar and instead presented a classic Republican case to voters, all while deflecting the barrage of questions about Trump’s latest tweets or his handling of investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
The Republican unease evident in the district could replay across the country next year, when both major parties are bracing for a bruising season of midterm elections at an uncertain national moment.
Back in Washington, party leaders — and Trump — paid close attention to the race. Inside the West Wing, Trump and his advisers were briefed regularly on Handel’s standing in private polls and Republican turnout, according to a White House official. In particular, the official added, strategist Stephen Bannon and chief of staff Reince Priebus were involved.
“KAREN HANDEL FOR Congress,” Trump tweeted as day broke Tuesday, touting the Republican candidate and former Georgia secretary of state. “She will fight for lower taxes, great health care strong security — a hard worker who will never give up. VOTE TODAY!”
As Handel’s lead climbed late Tuesday, a senior White House official sent The Washington Post a text message: “They haven’t figured out how to beat Trump.”
Democrats, meanwhile, spoke excitedly about Ossoff, 30, a former congressional staffer who raised more than $23 million and built a devoted grass-roots following and courted Republicans by bemoaning “wasteful” spending.
Handel and Ossoff vied to fill the seat vacated by Tom Price, who held it from 2005 until he joined Trump’s Cabinet this year as health and human services secretary. On April 18, Ossoff had nearly topped the 50 percent threshold that would have given him an outright victory in an 18-candidate primary field. Falling just short, he found himself in a runoff against Handel.
A record turnout was expected Tuesday: About 120,000 people cast early ballots, according to Georgia officials — nearly a quarter of registered voters here.
In another Tuesday tweet, Trump took a swipe at Ossoff’s centrist positioning and dismissed him as a liberal who “wants to raise your taxes to the highest level and is weak on crime and security, doesn’t even live in district.” Ossoff lives just outside the district with his fiancee.
For Democrats, Ossoff’s loss was demoralizing, coming after months of bitter infighting in the wake of Trump’s victory.
His defeat is also likely to lead to more criticism from the wing of liberal activists who want a more confrontational style embodied by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. They have already complained about the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s willingness to support a more moderate candidate in Ossoff, while more progressive candidates in special elections in Montana and Kansas this year were left largely in the lurch.
As the national political and media world focused heavily on the Georgia race, an underfunded, overlooked Democrat, Archie Parnell, also a firsttime candidate, almost pulled off a huge upset in the South Carolina seat vacated by Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s budget director.
Republican Ralph Norman won just more than 51 percent of votes cast Tuesday in the 5th District. That’s compared with about 48 percent for Parnell.
Norman, a former state lawmaker, ran a campaign aligning himself with Trump. Trump won the district in November by more than 18 percentage points.
Of the four special elections prompted by Trump’s Cabinet selections, the DCCC identified the Georgia seat as vulnerable to the sort of political climate they expect to target next year. There are dozens of suburban districts with similar demographic makeup currently held by Republicans.
The national significance of the contest brought forth a flood of advertising and organization. Spending in the race by the campaigns and outside groups topped $50 million. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC affiliated with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., spent more than $7 million on its campaign against Ossoff and launched a field program.