Georgia 6th: What they are saying about Handel's win

Republican Karen Handel has won a closely contested congressional race, salvaging a seat in conservative USA state of Georgia where Democrats had hoped to strike a blow against Donald Trump's presidency.

Georgia's outcome followed similar results in Montana, Kansas and SC, where Republicans won special House races by much narrower margins than they managed in November.

The Republican Party was victorious in two special congressional elections held in America yesterday - one in Georgia, the other in SC. "All the Fake News, all the money spent = 0" he wrote on Twitter.

Republican candidate Karen Handel has won a special election in Georgia, delivering a significant boost to U.S. president Donald Trump as he struggles with historically-low approval ratings and a deepening Russian Federation scandal.

Former Georgia secretary of state Karen Handel on Tuesday defeated political newcomer Democrat Jon Ossoff, 52 percent to 48 percent.

The Democratic candidate in District 6 was Jon Ossoff, a 30 year-old political activist who did not even live in the district.

More than $55 million was spent by both campaigns with Ossoff outspending Handel by roughly $25 million. The 6th District seat has been solidly Republican, but Democrat Ossoff got 48 percent in a crowded April 18 election to almost win the seat outright and fuel Democratic optimism about repudiating Trump. They found an attractive candidate, Jon Ossoff, to run against the Republican Karen Handel and, with the help of out-of-state groups, poured $22 million into supporting him.

The race is being viewed nationally as a gauge of whether President Donald Trump's sagging approval ratings are a drag on Republicans that could threaten the party's control of the House in the 2018 midterm elections. Her supporters reacted with cries of "Trump, Trump, Trump!" But despite Democrats spending millions of dollars on the campaign, the Republican candidate comfortably won the district in an affluent suburb of Atlanta, raising questions about the Democrats' ability to win seats in next year's mid-term elections.

A recent Ossoff campaign ad featuring several breast cancer survivors accused Handel of having "cut off funding for Planned Parenthood cancer screening" when she was a senior executive at Susan G. Komen (Handel has long since denied such accusations, calling the fight against breast cancer her "No. 1 priority"). However, Ossoff lost the election to Republican Karen Handel despite him and his supporters putting up a courageous fight. Sure, Republicans have won the Congressional district since the Carter administration. Mitt Romney carried the district by more than 23 points when he faced former President Barack Obama in 2012. Now is not the time, they said, to move even further left in picking Democratic nominees from the so-called Sanders wing of the party.

Another layer: The Handel-Ossoff race was supposed to be the barnburner on Tuesday.

On the other hand, a Handel win is not anywhere near the victory/mandate/endorsement the Trump team will claim it to be.

This was all great excitement, this Georgia congressional race, which was unfortunate but predictable.

It was Ms Handel's most public embrace of the man whose tenuous standing in this well-educated, suburban enclave made a close race in a previously safe Republican district.

The call for Democrats to cultivate a message amounting to more than "we're not Trump" was echoed by the Working Families Party, which in a statement called for "Democratic candidates to run on a bold, inclusive populist platform". I know it's good to get outside the Beltway from time to time, but my timing might have been a little better.

By contrast, Handel's $4.5 million in donations mostly came from within Georgia itself. The result in Georgia also suggests that white collar Republicans, many of whom never warmed to Donald Trump's blue collar populism, have problems with his presidency.