The thank you to Trump was Handel's most public show of support of the man who wasn't embraced by many voters in the well-educated suburban Atlanta district in November and who she handled delicately throughout a primary and runoff election to fill the congressional seat vacated by Tom Price to take a spot in Trump's cabinet. Republicans also pounded Handel's Democratic opponent Jon Ossoff, a 30-year old former Capitol Hill staffer, for puffing up his national security credentials and being weak in the fight against ISIS.
"Tonight I stand before you extraordinarily humbled and honored by the tremendous responsibility that you, the people of the 6th District, have given me to represent you", she said. "We may have different beliefs, but we are part of one community, the community of the 6th District".
Handel told her crowd of supporters that she plans to work on tax reform with lower corporate rates, "but also lower individual rates so that our middle class can participate and our small businesses can participate". Most of the $23.6 million donated to the Democrat was from large Democrat states such as New York and California, according to New York Times analysis of campaign contributions. First, she was a better candidate that Ossoff, a political novice who did not even live in the district that he was running to represent, a fact that Republicans were pleased to mention frequently.
And in a nod to the special election in SC - in which Republican Ralph Norman won - Trump tweeted, "Well, the Special Elections are over and those that want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN are 5 and O!" But here are some things we can say after Tuesday night, in the form of winners and losers.
Those polar views the day after Handel's 4-point win over Ossoff can be partly attributed to sheer partisanship - voters seeing the world through their party identity.
Democratic candidate for 6th congressional district Jon Ossoff concedes to Republican Karen Handel at his election night party in Atlanta, Tuesday, June 20, 2017.
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Handel said at her victory rally that she knew it was going to "require all hands on deck" for Republicans to hold on to the district. "Democrats from coast to coast threw everything they had at this race, and Karen would not be defeated", House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement.
Democrats need to flip 24 GOP seats to win a majority in the House next year.
"There are more of us than we thought", said Tricia Gephardt, an Ossoff volunteer. By 10pm local time, CNN, NBC, the Associated Press and others were among those who had called the race the 55-year social conservative. Despite having celebrated the House passage of an Obamacare repeal bill last month, Trump privately told lawmakers recently that the House proposal was "mean", and that the final product plan must be more "generous". Handel emphasized that pedigree often during her campaign and again during her victory speech.
Democrats attacked her record, including increasing spending as secretary of state.
And Ossoff's 48 percent is a higher mark than Democrats have managed in recent statewide races involving less of a GOP advantage than Atlanta's northern suburbs. The Republican campaign establishment, however, helped make up the difference.
Handel pushed back forcefully, pointing out that her sister was born without an esophagus - a pre-existing condition.
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