- Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath defeated Republican Karen Handel to maintain control of Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, according to Decision Desk HQ.
- It was a rematch of the 2018 race, in which McBath unseated then incumbent Handel by just 1 percentage point.
- In 2017, Handel defeated Jon Ossoff in a special election to replace former Trump administration official Tom Price, which became the most expensive House election in history.
- Polls closed at 7 p.m. local time.
- McBath is the first nonwhite congressperson to represent Georgia’s 6th Congressional District.
- See the live coverage and full results from all US House elections.
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Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath has defeated former congresswoman Karen Handel to maintain control of Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, according to Decision Desk HQ.
The district includes suburbs in northern Atlanta and portions of DeKalb, Fulton, and Cobb Counties.
The candidates
Handel narrowly lost the Republican primary election for Governor in 2010 as she was bashed by her opponent for being too soft-handed on abortion and gay rights. After her defeat in the primary, Handel worked for Susan G. Komen, a breast cancer nonprofit, but was removed after pushing for the company to cease any financial support for Planned Parenthood.
McBath lost her son to gun violence in 2012 and became a gun-control activist. She decided to run for Congress after the mass shooting of a high school in Parkland, Florida. She was the first nonwhite congressperson to represent Georgia’s 6th Congressional District.
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The district
Georgia’s 6th Congressional District comprises the affluent northern suburbs of Atlanta and portions of DeKalb, Fulton, and Cobb Counties.
The district was once represented by former House speaker and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, but is now rapidly trending in Democrats’ direction as suburban and college-educated voters turn away from the GOP over their dislike of Trump.
While Mitt Romney easily carried the 6th District by over 23 percentage points in 2012, Trump carried it by just 1.5 points in 2016, and Stacey Abrams carried the district by over three points in her 2018 gubernatorial campaign, according to the Daily Kos.
The money race
According to the Center for Responsive Politics and Federal Election Commission filings, incumbent McBath has raised over $7.8 million, spent $6.8 million, and has $1.2 million in cash on hand. Her opponent, Handel, has raised less than half of that — $2.9 million, has spent $2.3 million, and has only around $675,000 on hand.
In her 2017 special election race against Jon Ossoff, Handel raised $8.7 million as she bested her opponent who outraised her by $22 million.
What experts say
The race between McBath and Handel was rated as “likely Democratic” by the Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, and Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
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