ATLANTA — Republican Karen Handel accused Democrat Jon Ossoff of being a Nancy Pelosi clone in a televised prime-time debate that saw her go on the attack as if she has ground to make up in the highly competitive special election campaign to fill a vacant Georgia congressional seat.

Polling shows a tight race ahead of the June 20 election, and Handel, the former Georgia secretary of state, brought the heat. At one point, she asked her Democratic opponent: “Exactly, who are you going to vote for in this election,” a reference to the fact that Ossoff lives outside the Sixth Congressional District and can not vote for himself.