House Democrat: ‘We need new leadership’

Meanwhile, Trump took to Twitter to congratulate Handel for her victory.

So far in 2017, despite the pipe-dreams of the Democrat Party leadership and the hopeful predictions of the Trump-hating media, Republicans are 4-0 in special House elections. You can measure their disappointment by imagining the triumphalism we’d be hearing had Ossoff prevailed.

Kay Kirkpatrick, a Republican state senator who represents the area, said that while Republicans were divided on Trump, they had mostly united behind Handel. And control of the House of Representatives could still be in play in the 2018 midterm elections. Despite this, 30-year-old Ossoff almost won the initial election in April, with 48.1% of the vote.

When all was said and done, the race came down to a conservative Republican and a liberal Democrat.

Democrats came close but still lost two other contested special elections earlier this year for Republican-held seats in conservative Kansas and Montana, and the outcomes in Georgia and SC could put a crimp in the party’s fundraising and candidate recruitment. Trump tweeted on Thursday, the morning after he took something of a victory lap with a campaign event in Iowa.

Ryan, Pelosi’s opponent last fall, said that Pelosi’s continued role as the GOP’s favorite bogeyman makes it “a heck of a lot harder” for Democrats as they try to notch victories in the GOP-friendly districts they will need to win next year.

“This is a heavily Republican district”, Crowley said. “The voters I talk to aren’t interested in a Bernie-or-Hillary litmus test”, writes Gomez. To pull this off Handel had to keep her distance from Trump.

Mr Trump’s approval rating stands at 39 per cent, which though at a persistent record low, remained unchanged from February and April, according to a Pew Research Centre survey released on Tuesday.

Ossoff harnessed a huge fundraising operation with more than 200,000 people donating to his campaign.

However, Fallon did see a lost opportunity. Republicans could pass a health care bill that Americans hate – or don’t hate. So, while the larger Republican vote was split multiple ways, the smaller Democratic vote essentially all went to Ossoff, putting him in first place among all the candidates.

Asked if that meant Pelosi should go, Moulton – who backed Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan’s challenge to Pelosi’s leadership post previous year – said: “I think that’s a question for the caucus to decide”. Joe Cunningham, running for the House in SC, promised on Wednesday morning that he would not vote for Pelosi for Speaker if elected.

Special elections can be bellwethers of the national mood, but that national mood isn’t set in stone. Would the existence of such a message have won Ossoff this race?

“As long as Leader Pelosi is perceived as the leader of the House Democratic Caucus Republicans are going to continue to spend millions and millions of dollars in those swing districts to convince those swing voters, those independent voters, those Republican voters who might go our way, not to vote for our Democratic candidate because of Leader Pelosi”, Vela said. Sure. Does this mean that Trump and the GOP are out of the woods? But the Republican base rallied to Handel in the face of the threat to Donald Trump.