The Republican Party breathed a collective sigh of relief Tuesday after a much-anticipated special election victory in Georgia.
After Karen Handel was declared the victor in a race billed as a referendum on the new president, Trump fired off a series of celebratory tweets.
“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,” wrote Trump.
In the run-up to the Georgia race, Republicans worried that a loss could be the harbinger of a 2018 train-wreck. There were fears that a Handel loss could ripple across the political landscape, spurring GOP retirements, dampening candidate recruitment, and turbo-charging Democrats looking to bounce back following the soul-crushing 2016 election.
The most expensive House race ever was viewed by many as the first major strength test of the Democratic resistance to Trump. In the final days before the election, several White House aides said they didn’t know if Handel would be able to fend off Jon Ossoff, a 30-year-old filmmaker and former congressional staffer who became a cause celebre among liberals nationwide.
However, she did, and the President’s supporters viewed the outcome as proof that Trump continues to connect with voters.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, an informal Trump adviser and a past occupant of the Georgia seat, contended that the handful of special elections this year revealed that voters were tuning out the Russia scandal that has consumed Washington. He argued that the political establishment, much as it did during the 2016 campaign, continued to underestimate the connection many Americans felt with the president.
“He may be resonating with people in a way that some don’t get,” Gingrich said.
“Maybe there’s a whole new conversation taking place in a way that none of us understand,” he added.
Republicans are not in the clear. With Trump confronting an expanding federal probe into his 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia, party strategists concede they are still facing serious headwinds in their efforts to retain the House majority in 2018.
Moreover, the results weren’t entirely rosy. Handel’s win disguised the fact that the party only narrowly held onto a Republican-oriented Georgia seat, and barely won another race Tuesday for a conservative South Carolina seat that few thought would be competitive. Both outcomes could easily be interpreted as warning signs for the GOP.
Still, given the national spotlight on Georgia, Republicans breathed easier after the race was called for Handel.
Be the first to comment