Republicans have won all five of the special elections that have been held since the November election and President Donald Trump’s swearing in.
Rep. Karen Handel and Rep. Ralph Norman, in Georgia’s 6th Congressional district and South Carolina 5th Congressional district respectively, were able to pull off substantial wins against their Democratic challengers. The race between Handel and Jon Ossoff was especially noteworthy in that it set the record for spending in a house race, with the campaigns spending a combined $36 million. It should be noted that the Ossoff campaign spent over $22 million on the race.
Handel has a strong record on being pro-life and against amnesty for illegal immigrants. She also is a supporter of the American Health Care Act, the House GOP’s replacement for Obamacare.
Many Republicans across Minnesota have reacted positively to these results.
“Tonight was a victory for Republicans across the US. So glad @karenhandel won #GA06, excited to welcome her as a colleague in Congress @nrcc,” Rep. Tom Emmer (MN 6-R) tweeted.
“Well, the Special Elections are over and those that want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN are 5 and O! All the Fake News, all the money spent = 0,” President Donald Trump stated in his address to a crowd in Iowa.
“They spent close to 30 million on this kid – who forgot to live in the community that he was [running] in,” continued Trump
Minnesota Democrat, Rep. Keith Ellison (MN 5), talking about the defeats in an interview with Neera Tanden of the Center for American Progress.
“Resistance summer is going awesome[….]The Democratic Party is on the move. We are getting across this country. We are fighting every single day,” Ellison said.
Among the other recent victories by Republicans was Greg Gianforte in Montana’s at large representative and Ron Estes in Kansas’s 4th Congressional District. Trump was also counting the initial Georgia, ‘jungle primary,’ which allowed Handel to advance to the runoff.
