Trump faces early referendum in Georgia congressional race

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Currently, Democrat Jon Ossoff is the only candidate put forward by his party in the special election, while the GOP has 11 candidates clamoring for votes.

The 6th district seat had been previously held by Tom Price, who now heads the Health and Human Services Department.

(AP Photo/Alex Sanz). In a Monday, March 27, 2017 photo, Democratic congressional candidate Jon Ossoff is seen with supporters outside of the East Roswell Branch Library in Roswell, Ga., on the first day of early voting. Well, for one thing, a decisive win for Ossoff could inject some desperately needed enthusiasm in the Democratic Party; in fact, Ossoff has already been getting considerable support from Dems across the country, raising $8.3 million in campaign funds in just three months.

Even the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee played up the results of the election, insisting that the closer-than-expected win in a red district "should set off alarm bells for House Republicans".

Democrats have become more and more optimistic as polls have consistently shown Ossoff has jumped out to a big lead against a crowded field of Republicans, and is within striking distance of the 50 percent threshold which would avoid the run-off election scheduled for June between the top two vote-getters on Tuesday and make Ossoff the victor.

Trump also recorded a robocall going after the 30-year-old candidate. Handel's been in second place in most polls, but she's far behind Ossoff, taking an average of just 16 percent of the vote.

A $1.1 million Star Wars-themed TV ad buy from a GOP Super PAC depicts him playing beer pong and dressing as Han Solo in an attack on his "experience". Two independent candidates also are running.

Cedrick Gulley, a 25-year-old Georgia State University student from Sandy Springs, compared Ossoff to President Barack Obama and U.S. Sen. Republican gubernatorial victories in Virginia and New Jersey turned out to be better barometers of what was to come.

"I've always said that Democrats can be a little lazy, and I do believe since November there's an emergence of people fighting", Gulley said.

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Looked precarious in the first half but he grew into the game and was superb second half. Anyway, I said that many times.

"I got texts, I got calls". Much of the energy and rage that has electrified the left since Trump was elected president has been channeled Ossoff's way.

Such a battle would weaken Ossoff's chances, assuming that voters now divided among the Republican candidates would coalesce around the single Republican candidate. Price, in the same election as Trump, won his race by more than 20 points.

However, Trump narrowly defeated Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in that district - signaling to Democrats that an upset could be within reach.

According to The Hill, The DCCC dispatched eight staffers to Georgia to build out what's become a field team of more than 70 paid staffers.

Karen Handel, Georgia's former secretary of state, has led the Republican field. Fellow GOP candidate Dan Moody, a former state senator, took his own jab at Handel with an ad featuring an elephant wearing a pearl necklace - a permanent fixture in Handel's wardrobe. That sum dwarfs what any Republican candidate has spent on the contest.

The White House's messaging on the race is aimed at holding down Ossoff without endorsing any of the Republican candidates vying to defeat him.

"They were ringing my phone off the hook", said Kim Fambro, 45, who said the outreach convinced her to vote for Ossoff.

Up until this point, Democrats' reasons for celebrating special congressional elections in the era of Trump have happened despite them.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich held the seat for two decades, and a Democrat hasn't occupied it since 1979.

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