The top Republican finisher in Tuesday night’s primary election to replace Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price ripped her fresh-faced opponent Jon Ossoff as inexperienced and called him an outsider Wednesday.
Karen Handel, the former secretary of state in Georgia, said on CNN she’s feeling confident about a victory in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District because she’s a native.
“This is a district where people know me and they trust me, and that’s a big contrast to the Democrat,” she said, “who doesn’t even live in the district. Gosh, he couldn’t even vote for himself yesterday.”
Ossoff finished in first place in the primary with 48.1 percent of the vote and Handel received 19.8 percent of the vote, enough for second place. Ossoff needed 50 percent to win the election outright.
Despite that showing, Handel said a consolidated Republican Party would be enough to overcome Ossoff’s outside money and influence.
“They were largely consolidated around their coronated candidate here, and they spent upwards of $10 million,” she said.
“Money buys a lot when it’s a very compressed race. That won’t be the same in the runoff.”
Handel pointed out that the consolidated Republican vote — there were multiple candidates from each party on the ballot — would have given her the win by 3 or 4 percentage points Tuesday.
She expects the voters in the district to lean more her way as they find out more about Ossoff.
“They’re not interested in someone who doesn’t even live in the district, someone who has a thin resume and a lack of experience,” she said.
