Trump rallies in Iowa following GOP victory in Georgia

The Democrats tried hard and lost.

His online messaging comes after GOP candidate Karen Handel defeated her Democratic opponent Jon Ossoff on Tuesday in a highly watched race in Georgia that was the most expensive House contest ever. "It still moves voters", Ryan said. I have a lot of friends and loved ones that have been out in these marches... every week they'll be marching about something else.

As Todd noted, Republicans have successfully used Pelosi as a foil in previous House campaigns, and one of Karen Handel's closing arguments before her victory over Jon Ossoff is that voters don't want "Nancy Pelosi's guy coming in to try to buy this seat".

House Democratic leaders are taking some comfort in coming in a close second for a seat that's always been firmly in GOP hands. That seat was formerly held by Republican Mick Mulvaney, who is now Trump's director of the Office of Management and Budget.

But as the returns came in and Ossoff remained stubbornly behind Karen Handel, a veteran local officeholder, Democratic frustrations burst into full view. Probably not. Did Georgia make Republicans feel better and Democrats worse? "Time to move forward and win again", tweeted Joe Cunningham, a Democrat who is running against Rep. Mark Sanford in SC.

The party needs to flip at least 24 GOP-held seats by next November to reclaim a House majority. "Time to stop rehashing 2016 and talk about the future", tweeted Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass. After all, Trump barely carried that district last fall. "But understand, if you want to change America, you wanna change the world, you're much better off going into districts, campaigning for somebody, knocking on doors", Scarborough said.

But for Republicans from the president on down, it was time to celebrate.

In other words, in the realm of spin, appearances, and momentum, a Handel win is a huge victory for the White House. It hurts. It's painful, but we've got to get our act together because there's a lot of people relying on us.

Indeed the string of special election wins, especially in Georgia, sent a powerful message to Republicans that they must be doing something right, even though Trump's approval ratings are low by historical standards and the GOP has yet to notch a single major legislative accomplishment on Capitol Hill.

Handel insisted for months that voters' choice had little to do with Trump, whom she rarely mentioned, despite holding a closed-door fundraiser with him earlier this spring. Handel supporter John Salvesen attributed her more comfortable margin of victory over Ossoff to Republicans determined to defeat a candidate they considered representative of national Democrats - with some encouragement from Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Paul Ryan.

"We need to be focused on next November, and what happens with the reality of health care and trade, tax policies and the impact on working men and women", said Rep.