Karen Handel, the Republican candidate, has won the Georgia House seat in what was the most expensive House race in U.S. history.
Newt Gingrich’s old seat, formerly held by HHS Secretary Tom Price, was up for grabs in today’s special election runoff. Democrat Progressives tried to win the seat to make it a referendum against President Trump.
Georgia’s suburban Atlanta district has been a Republican stronghold for 40 years. It was supposed to be the Democrats’ big success story.
Before today’s runoff, Ossoff said his near-victory two months ago was “historic”. He called it a “victory for the ages.”
Handel won handily, six points ahead of her opponent [the final count was 3.8 points].
The pollsters claimed Ossoff was 7 points ahead until recently when they said he was only 2 points ahead. Internal poll numbers showed Handel winning.
Democrats also lost in South Carolina, but that was a given. Democrats are 0 for 5 in special elections.
California lost the election in Georgia
This was the single most expensive House election.
Ossoff, who doesn’t live in the district, had received between $23 million and $31 million in donations, over 90% of which came from California liberals and others outside Georgia, including Soros groups. That is according to one Fox News report. Numbers vary and not all the money was spent. Some estimates, however, say as much as $60 million was spent overall. The NY Times reported $55 million.
Republicans began pouring money into Handel’s campaign to offset Ossoff’s donations. She ended up with about $4.5 million in the final days according to The NY Times.
Handel received half her donations from outside the district. Earlier we reported she had $23 million at her disposal based on a Fox report but The NY Times reported $4.5 million. That would make her win ever more amazing.
Ossoff pontificating
Ossoff can be heard in the video below crowing after his near-victory, the “victory for the ages”. He said he “defied the odds”, “shattered expectations”, and “we have challenged the world”.
Laughably, he complained about Republican “dark money”. He’s the man who took somewhere between 90% and 95% of his funding from California while running in Georgia.
The media really shows their ignorance when they attempt their comparisons. They want to compare the two states and use that as a basis for why one may have done better. You have Two Different communities and Two Different states, each with their own issues and concerns. Therefore it is only simplistic thinking that leads one to assume certain parameters are definitive or determinative.
I had heard a poll had given the lead to Ossoff by 7 points. In the last election I had been polled numerous times. It was when a question that had a response of “very dissatisfied” wasn’t allowed, even though it was an option, that I no longer would respond to the many calls.
Those in the news media should realize very few pay attention to them. When I was working there wasn’t a single person I knew who had any interest in news. Sports and games were the only interest. Even when 9-11 happened the interest of the ongoing event lasted little more than an hour whereas I was engrossed for weeks.
With this in mind we shouldn’t be looking at elections by what the media tries to create. It was rather humorous that a Democrat has said she took it as a silver lining the loss wasn’t larger. They seem content in being willing to accept their own delusions.