The most expensive House race in USA history heads to voters Tuesday in suburban Atlanta.
Addressing supporters in Atlanta, Ms Handel specifically thanked United States president Donald Trump in her victory speech, prompting cheers from the crowd. They fell short in other special congressional elections earlier this year in Kansas and Montana, and are expected to lose another race on Tuesday in SC.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan came to Atlanta to show his support for Handel.
Republicans won House special election victories already this year in GOP-held districts in Kansas and Montana and hope to add Georgia to that string.
The last woman elected to the Senate or House of Representatives from Georgia was Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney, who served from 2005-2007.
And as the results rolled in, Team Trump seized the moment to celebrate the victory, poke Democrats and throw a little snark at the news media as Republican Karen Handel soundly defeated Democrat Jon Ossoff to fill the seat Tom Price vacated to become Trump's secretary of health and human services. Ossoff tallied 48%, just shy of an outright victory.
Democrats continued their special election losing streak on Tuesday as one of the party's bright hopes, Jon Ossoff, lost his bid for a suburban Atlanta Congressional seat long held by Republicans-a painful defeat that highlights deep fissures in the party.
He does not constantly refer directly to Ms Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, instead pitching his "fresh leadership" against "career politicians".
Romanian prime minister, gov't ousted in no-confidence vote
He claims powerful party leader Liviu Dragnea wants to replace him with a party loyalist. After seeing its motion passed, the PSD will be allowed to nominate a replacement.
(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call) Campaign workers cheer as fellow campaign workers arrive for the final campaign rally for Democratic candidate for Georgia's 6th Congressional district Jon Ossoff.
Party organizations, independent political action committees and donors from Los Angeles to Boston sent a cascade of money into a race, filling metro Atlanta's airwaves with ads and its 6th District neighborhoods with hordes of paid canvassers.
The special election in the southern state is painted as a referendum on Trump, and the result may presage how his presidency - for better or worse - could influence the battle for control of Congress in 2018. "It also suggests that attacks tying more centrist Democrats to the national party, particularly House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, can still prove effective".
It was enough to help Handel raise more than $5 million, not a paltry sum in a congressional race, but barely a fifth of Ossoff's fundraising haul. But Republicans made the issue central to their campaign.
Outside GOP groups have spent $12 million to support Handel.
Eliana Johnson, national political reporter for POLITICO. He led in most polls since May and appeared to have the most enthusiasm on his side.
Attorney David Ware said he voted for Ossoff because the Democrat defends the Affordable Care Act - President Barack Obama's signature health care law.
"This race is not about what's going on around the rest of the country - it is about you", she told supporters on Monday night.
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