Republican Ralph Norman beat Democrat Archie Parnell by around 3 percentage points in SC, closer than expected and a warning sign to the GOP not to take any seat for granted.
As he's faced pushback from more conservative members within his own party on some legislation - particularly health care - Trump has begun to court Democratic votes, which, to this point, have been elusive.
Republican Karen Handel has won a keenly watched congressional election in Georgia and thanked President Donald Trump after avoiding an upset that would have rocked Washington ahead of mid-term elections next year.
Tuesday night's outcome in a special House race in Georgia was a triumph for the GOP, and the most recent and devastating illustration of the Democrats' problems - from a weak bench and recruiting problems to divisions about what the party stands for today.
Polls close at 7:00 pm (2300 GMT).
With 207 out of 208 precincts reporting, Handel had 52.6 percent of the vote to Ossoff's 47.4 percent.
"But Democrats are convinced that Ossoff fell short by moving towards the center after running as the darling of the "#Resistance" in the primary election in April, and by trying to convince moderate Republicans to cross over.
The Democrat National Committee, which pinned its hopes and many millions of dollars on flipping a Republican-majority district, was silent as of early Wednesday morning.
"Out-of-state money has poured in on both sides".
Mexico recovers to beat NZ 2-1 in fiery Confed Cup game
Mexico , in white, plays Portugal at the Kazan Arena in Russian Federation on June 18. "We know we didn't play well", he said. There was also no place for promising winger Hirving Lozano, 21, who signed a six-year contract for PSV Eindhoven on Monday.
Mr Ossoff certainly went for the latter.
Handel, her own campaign flooded with outside donations, has kept the race tight, emphasizing her area roots. We've taken the fight deep into their territory, and forced them to fight desperately to hold seats that should easily be theirs. "And at some point, you know, I heard last night Ossoff say we started something great".
As the two parties duked it out, Trump loomed large over Georgia.
The fact that the GOP fielded an experienced candidate in a district Republicans have held for 40 years against a political novice propped up by a flood of cash from outside the state always made it hard to determine just how much the race was going to be a barometer on the president. Her loss would prompt party-wide handwringing. The centrist's loss could add weight to Sanders' argument that the Democratic Party needs to turn left. "We can't just run against Trump".
Handel insisted for months that voters' choice had little to do with Trump. His frequent mentions of the network are a break from past presidents, who rarely singled out specific networks for positive coverage. Now the White House is claiming a referendum on congressional Democrats.
"Democrat Jon Ossoff, who wants to raise your taxes to the highest level and is weak on crime and security, doesn't even live in district", Trump tweeted at 5:49 a.m.
Indeed the best news Democrats got Tuesday night was that a different special House race, in SC, ended up closer than the Georgia contest even though it had drawn little national attention.
Should Democrats fail to convert at least one of the seats, it could be a demoralizing blow for the anti-Trump resistance movement.
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