Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 20 april 2017
Runoff in Georgia House race could test Trump, opposition

Continued from front Georgia as an important
test ahead of the 2018 mid-
Well known to voters, Han- term elections. Democrats
del had treated Trump gin- have a long-shot chance
gerly in a district the presi- of taking back control of
dent barely carried, but the House next year and
declared Wednesday breaking the GOP’s mo-
she’d like to see him cam- nopoly control of Washing-
paign for her ahead of the ton. But it will require pick-
June 20 runoff. ing up more than 20 seats
“We want everybody and winning over droves of
who is supportive of Re- voters like those in the af-
publicans, so absolutely,” fluent, well-educated 6th
Handel told The Associ- District of Georgia.
ated Press after taking Winning such a seat will
a congratulatory call depend on Ossoff keep-
from Trump on Wednes- ing voters like Shari Sprin-
day. “We are going to be gle engaged in the race.
united from this point going The 54-year-old orga-
forward.” nized a Facebook group,
Trump, who attacked Os- “Liberal Moms of Ro-
soff in recent days as a Republican candidate for Georgia’s Sixth Congressional seat Karen Handel, left, updates support- swell and Cobb,” in 2015.
liberal shill and mocked ers at an election night party in Roswell, Ga., Tuesday, April 18, 2017. A narrow miss by a Demo- She says it proliferated
him for living outside of the cratic newcomer in a conservative Georgia House district has triggered a high-stakes runoff that since Trump’s victory, with
district, crowed on Twit- could test President Donald Trump’s influence and the limits of the backlash against him. several members acting as
ter about the outcome in (AP Photo/David Goldman) precinct captains for Os-
Georgia following Demo- soff.
crats’ failure to win a dif- Ossoff. can go in Republican- Ossoff his opening in the Springle’s take Wednes-
ferent special election in Still, the close finishes in friendly districts. first place; Trump barely day was simple: “Let’s get
Kansas last week. Georgia as well as con- The Kansas and Georgia won the Georgia 6th in No- to work.”
“Dems failed in Kansas servative Kansas under- races also serve notice vember and failed to win But she’ll run up against
and are now failing in scored Democrats’ poten- that GOP candidates may a majority, four years after Handel backers like
Georgia. Great job Karen tial to capitalize on surg- struggle to handle Trump, Republican Mitt Romney 82-year-old Bev Wingate.
Handel! It is now Holly- ing liberal energy follow- who alienates many in- got more than 60 percent The Dunwoody retiree and
wood vs. Georgia on June ing Trump’s election, even dependents and even of the presidential vote. Handel volunteer says Re-
20th,” Trump wrote, allud- as they also pointed to the some Republicans. In Both major parties are ap- publicans were too cau-
ing to celebrity donors to limits of how far Democrats fact, Trump arguably gave proaching the runoff in tious in the primary for
fear they’d “step on toes.”
Now, she says, she’s free
to ask all her friends and
neighbors to be “on our
team.”
DuBose Porter, chairman of
the Georgia Democratic
Party, said the district of-
fers the perfect setting for
Democrats to prove their
momentum heading into
2018. “If we can get over
50 percent in this district,
we know we can do that
statewide and around
the country,” Porter said,
mocking Republican as-
sertions that Ossoff failed
Tuesday by falling short of
an outright primary victory.
“Only the Republicans
could try to define this as a
defeat for the Democrats,”
said Porter.
At the White House, spokes-
man Sean Spicer tried to
do exactly that. “The reac-
tion has somewhat been,
you know, that they al-
most won. No, they lost!”
Spicer said. “They spent
$8.3 million dollars and
threw everything including
the kitchen sink at it, and
lost.”q