Karen Handel Wins Georgia Special Election

She beat out Jon Ossoff in the most expensive congressional race in US history.

Karen Handel makes an early appearance to thank her supporters.Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP

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Republican Karen Handel won Tuesday’s special election to replace Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price as the representative for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District.

Following a first-round election in April, Handel has spent the last two months running against Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff. The contest cost more than any congressional race in history.

But as my colleague Tim Murphy wrote yesterday:

The big story of the $51 million race is not who wins or loses on Tuesday, but rather that it happened at all. After November, the conservative suburban districts Hillary Clinton carried (or nearly carried) were a riddle: Were they a product of Trump’s unique unpopularity, or did they represent real opportunities for Democrats down-ballot? Ossoff’s performance in the first round of balloting, where he finished just shy of the 50 percent threshold needed to win outright, already went a long way toward answering that question, and his incredible fundraising haul and vast national support will only encourage other Democrats, from California to Texas, to follow his path.

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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