ATLANTA — Republican Karen Handel and Democrat Jon Ossoff were set to debate Tuesday evening as the record-setting dog fight for a vacant Georgia congressional seat enters its final two weeks.
Handel was locked in a too close for comfort race with Ossoff, in suburban Atlanta’s conservative-leaning sixth congressional district.
Republicans would like Handel to use the first of her debates with Ossoff to prove him ill prepared for national office by highlighting his questionable national security credentials. Democrats counter that Ossoff can win the evening by exposing Handel as a vapid candidate whose whole strategy is to stay out of sight until Election Day.
Public and private polling shows a very close contest, with Ossoff leading in some surveys, despite the seat’s history of voting for Republicans, consistently, since 1978. Ossoff led Handel by 2 percentage points in the latest polling averages.
“She needs to continue being the candidate who’ll keep Georgians safe,” a Republican operative involved in the race said. “It gets very unruly for Mr. Ossoff once he gets off his talking points. If he malfunctions, could be disastrous for him tonight.”
“Karen Handel has been totally inaccessible and hiding from local and national press,” a Democratic official said. “The debate will be a success no matter what Ossoff says, because Handel will be called to defend her positions… Her strategy is duck and cover.”
The battle for this upscale suburban seat, the most expensive House race in history, has national implications for President Trump and Republicans in Congress. Their ambitious legislative agenda has been moving more slowly than planned, with doubts heavy about whether Obamacare repeal and tax reform will come to fruition.
An Ossoff victory would send a chill through the Republican Party ahead of the 2018 midterms, possibly derailing the GOP’s government reform proposals.
Losing the district recently held by Tom Price, who was re-elected with more than 60 percent of the vote before retiring to become Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary, would be interpreted as a rebuke of the president and his bill to repeal former President Barack Obama’s healthcare law.
Handel holding on would boost Republicans’ confidence, deflated by the chaos and controversy surrounding the Trump White House. In turn, their renewed optimism could provide a shot of adrenaline to their semi-stalled agenda on Capitol Hill.
Ironically, Ossoff has done all he can to avoid nationalizing the race, preferring to present himself as a centrist focused on local issues. Meanwhile, Republicans insist that GOP voters here aren’t deciding how to vote, or whether to vote, based on their feelings about Trump’s leadership.
Trump won the district in November, but just barely, defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton by just 1.5 points. In the 2016 GOP presidential primary, the sixth supported Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.
“People up here don’t think this race is about Donald Trump no matter how many times they’re asked,” said a GOP insider in Atlanta. “It is for the Democrats that are trying to resist, but it’s not for most GOP voters, whether they’re always Trump, never Trump, or somewhere in between.”
However, in the rest of the country, the grassroots on both sides are motivated by their opinion of the president. Ossoff could end up raising $20 million from liberal activists nationwide who have donated to him to send a message to the president.
The one-hour debate, televised by Alanta’s local ABC affiliate, WSB-TV, begins at 8 p.m. The two candidates are scheduled to meet again, although Ossoff has backed out of a debate that was to be hosted by CNN on June 13.
