Republican Handel wins Georgia special House election

Republican Karen Handel on Tuesday night defeated rival Jon Ossoff in Georgia’s record-spending, special-election congressional race, keeping yet another House seat in GOP hands and denying Democrats a chance to deliver a rebuke to President Trump.
With all precincts reporting, Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, led Ossoff 52 percent to 48 percent -- a margin of nearly 11,000 votes out of more than 250,000 ballots cast.
The race smashed fundraising records for a House contest -- with both campaigns and outside groups combining to spend a record $50 million.
Ossoff’s defeat was another setback for Democrats hoping to capitalize on President Trump’s low approval ratings to win a long-standing Republican seat.
It was the party’s fourth straight defeat this year in attempts to win a Republican seat and take the momentum into the 2018 midterms. They now must win 24 GOP House seats to retake control of the chamber next year.
“This race was going to require all hands on deck, and that’s what we had,” Handel said at her victory party. “Tonight’s victory is for you. It’s for every citizen in the 6th (Congressional) District.”
To be sure, the contest was close since Handel and Ossoff were the top finishers in April's first balloting, which sent them to Tuesday’s runoff.
Ossoff lead by nearly 5 percentage points as recently as June 12, before the race deadlocked in the final days, according to the RealClearPolitics.com polls average.
The 30-year-old Ossoff, whose campaign was hurt by revelations that he didn’t live in the suburban Atlanta district, thanked his campaign team and voters in a short concession speech.
“Thank you for the most extraordinary process that I have ever been a part of,” Ossoff said. “The fight goes on. Hope is still alive.”
The House seat has been occupied by Republicans since 1979. GOP Rep. Tom Price gave up the seat in February to become Health and Human Services secretary.
President Trump didn’t campaign in Georgia for Handel. But he attacked Ossoff on Twitter for living outside the district and warned voters that he would increase taxes and be soft on national security.
Handel supporters chanted “Trump, Trump, Trump” at her victory party. And the president tweeted his own message of congratulations.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., also congratulated Handel, saying, “Karen is all business. I’ve campaigned with her, and I know how eager she is to get to work. I’m excited to have her as a partner in the House.”
Ossoff tried to thread the needle in the conservative-leaning Georgia district by vowing to cut taxes for small businesses, while championing equal rights for women and minorities, which earned him the support of civil rights icon and Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis.
Handel touted her experience as a state and local elected official and argued that outside forces were trying to buy a win.
Voters “are not interested in Hollywood and California coming in and buying this seat,” she said Tuesday morning on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”
An Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis showed just 3.5 percent of Ossoff’s donations between the end of March and May came from Georgia.
Still, Handel also benefited from outside spending, though most didn’t go directly to her campaign.
Groups like the Congressional Leadership Fund, a political action committee backed by Ryan, have spent millions on her behalf.
Also on Tuesday, Republicans held onto the House seat in South Carolina that was vacated in February by Mick Mulvaney so he could become the White House budget director. Millionaire developer Ralph Norman, the Republican, defeated former Goldman Sachs tax adviser Archie Parnell, the Democrat, in a closer-than-expected contest.
The other two special-election races this year in which Democrats failed to win a GOP House seat were in Kansas and Montana.
In Kansas, Republicans held onto the seat of Mike Pompeo, now the CIA director, and they kept the Montana seat of Ryan Zinke, who became Trump’s secretary of Interior.
Democrats have one last outside chance to win a GOP House seat, Rep. Jason Chaffetz’s in a conservative Utah. The special election is on August 15. Democrats won one special House election this year, holding onto the California seat vacated by Xavier Becerra.
While Republicans have held the Georgia seat since former House Speaker Newt Gingrich took it from Democrats nearly four decades ago, the district does not appear as conservative as in years past.
Trump won the district over Democrat Hillary Clinton last year by just 1.5 percent, compared to 2008 when Republican presidential nominee Arizona Sen. John McCain won by 18.9 percent.
The race attracted national attention and record money, but Georgia voters also took a big interest in the outcome.
More than 40,000 people voted early, including 36,000 who didn't vote in the April contest.

Speaker Paul Ryan Renews Push for Tax Reform

Speaker Paul Ryan says we will fix the tax code once and for all.
He made the remarks on Tuesday while speaking to the National Association of Manufacturer’s in D.C.
The president recently proposed a reform to the nation’s tax code with the House planning to lower taxes, and simplify the process.
Ryan said these changes will create more jobs for Americans and grow our economy.
The speaker also discussed the possibility of a border adjustment tax, which would tax imports and encourage exports all in an effort to discourage U.S. companies from moving abroad.

Rep. Committee Speaks Out on Dem’s Alleged Running for Nev. Senate

The National Republican Committee speaks out against a democrat’s reported running for a Nevada Senate seat.
The committee called Representative Jacky Rosen’s alleged bid for Dean Heller’s spot a “long shot.”
Its chairman said Rosen would rather run for a statewide position than be re-elected in her district, which was won by the president.
Heller is considered the most vulnerable republican up for re-election in 2018.
He’s the only GOP senator this cycle who represents a state won by Clinton.
The committee said they’re recruiting candidates to take Rosen’s district if she wins.

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Georgia special election: Voters to settle most expensive congressional race in history

With campaign spending expected to top $50 million, the race to fill the suburban Atlanta congressional district, vacated when Tom Price was named Health and Human Services Secretary, is the most expensive in U.S. history. Both candidates in the 6th District are calling on heavy hitters with Georgia roots to get out the vote on Tuesday.
“It’s time to be knocking on those doors. It’s time to be making those calls. It’s time to be sending those emails,” Secretary Price told supporters at a weekend rally for Republican Karen Handel. “It’s time to be making certain that you are asking every single individual that you see within the 6th District, ‘Have you voted?’”
Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican, also stumped for Handel over the weekend, while Democrat Jon Ossoff enlisted the support of Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia congressman and civil rights icon.
TRUMP CABINET OFFICERS URGE ON REPUBLICANS IN GEORGIA RACE
“With this election, it would indicate that people are prepared to change,” Lewis said at a weekend campaign event. “I think that many people will see the handwriting on the wall.”
The Real Clear Politics Average of polls shows Ossoff with a slight lead of 49.6 percent to Handel’s 47 percent in a district that normally favors establishment Republicans.
“This is exactly the type of district (Democrats) hope they can win if they can retake the House in 2018,” said Greg Bluestein, a political reporter with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “There’s 24 seats they need to win. A lot of them are going to be these fast-changing suburban districts that Republicans have long held.”
The GOP has held Georgia’s 6th District for nearly four decades. Ossoff hopes to fulfill a campaign slogan to “flip the 6th” from red to blue by appealing to moderate Republicans and independents.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: GEORGIA SPECIAL ELECTION
“I think this is an opportunity for Georgia to elect some fresh leadership that’s focused on delivering results for folks at home, focus on holding people accountable in Washington,” Ossoff told reporters while campaigning over the weekend.
In a district that Secretary Price won with 62 percent of the vote, but that President Trump won by less than 2 percentage points in November, Handel is rallying the conservative base by linking her opponent to left-wing Democrats.
The candidate won loud cheers at a weekend rally when she told the crowd: “We are gonna rock Nancy Pelosi’s world.”
Both campaigns have beefed up security after receiving threats, including letters with a white powder mailed to Handel and some of her neighbors.
Although voter turnout is typically low in special runoffs, that has not been the case in Georgia’s 6th District.
Voters have already cast 140,308 early ballots, according to Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp. That’s more than double the 56,830 early ballots cast in the April 18 special election.

Otto Warmbier dead: Trump condemns 'brutal' North Korea regime

President Trump slammed North Korea's "brutal regime" Monday after the death of college student Otto Warmbier, who was released by the communist nation in a coma last week.
"Lot of bad things happened," Trump said during a White House meeting with technology CEOs, “but at least we got him home to be with his parents."
"It's a brutal regime," Trump went on, "and we'll be able to handle it."
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States held North Korea accountable for Warmbier's "unjust imprisonment" and demanded that the country release three other Americans it is holding prisoner for alleged crimes against the state. The U.S. government has previously accused North Korea of using such detainees as political pawns.
Warmbier was held by North Korea for more than 17 months before he was medically evacuated June 13. He died Monday at University of Cincinnati Medical Center, near where he grew up in suburban Wyoming.
Warmbier’s family said in a statement that "the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans" meant that "no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today."
In a written statement, Trump said that "Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency."
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who has led the charge for tougher sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear missile program, said "Countless innocent men and women have died at the hand of the North Korean criminals, but the singular case of Otto Warmbier touches the American heart like no other.
"While Otto Warmbier's memory will always be a blessing to his loved ones," Haley added, "it will also serve as an indelible reminder to us of the barbaric nature of the North Korean dictatorship."
Warmbier had traveled to North Korea as part of a tour group when he was detained at Pyongyang's airport in January 2016. The company that organized the trip, Young Pioneer Tours, announced after Warmbier's death that it would no longer organize tours of North Korea for U.S. citizens.
"The assessment of risk for Americans visiting North Korea has become too high," said the company, which has also offered tours to Iran, Iraq and former Soviet republicans and boasted of booking "budget tours to destinations your mother would rather you stayed away from."
The State Department warns against travel to North Korea, but does not explicitly forbid it. While nearly all Americans who have been there have left without incident, visitors can be suddenly seized and face lengthy incarceration for what might seem like minor infractions.
On Capitol Hill, Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, called for the U.S. to ban all tourist travel to North Korea.
"Travel propaganda lures far too many people to North Korea," Royce said. "This is a regime that regularly kidnaps foreign citizens and keeps 120,000 North Koreans in barbaric gulags."
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Warmbier was "murdered by the [North Korean dictator] Kim Jong-un[sic] regime."
"In the final year of his life, he lived the nightmare in which the North Korean people have been trapped for 70 years: forced labor, mass starvation, systematic cruelty, torture, and murder," McCain said, later adding, "The United States of America cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers."
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said North Korea should be "universally condemned for its abhorrent behavior.” He added that Warmbier’s family "had to endure more than any family should have to bear."
Ohio’s other senator, Democrat Sherrod Brown, said the country's "despicable actions ... must be condemned."
“Our hearts are broken for Otto’s family and everyone who knew and loved him,” Brown added.
The state's governor, John Kasich, described Warmbier as "a young man of exceptional spirit."
"This horrendous situation further underscores the evil, oppressive nature of the North Korean regime that has such disregard for human life," Kasich says.

Poll: Majority of Americans Believe Govt. Will Protect Them From Terror Attack

A new poll reveals a majority of Americans are confident the government will protect U.S. citizens from a terror attack.
Monday’s Gallup poll shows 70-percent of those surveyed have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the government’s ability to defend against future acts of terrorism.
However, it also shows 6-in-10 people believe an attack in the U.S. is either “very” or “somewhat likely” to occur in the near future.
The survey was conducted earlier this month, shortly after two terror attacks hit the U.K.
Gallup says trust in the government remained high following the 9/11 attacks in 2001, but dropped to a record low after the San Bernardino attack 2015.

Washington Dems Plot to Slow Down GOP Healthcare Vote

Democrats in Washington D.C. are conspiring to stall the GOP’s effort to hold a vote on the repeal and replacement of Obamacare.
Senate republicans have been working on the House GOP’s healthcare plan after representatives voted for the repeal bill back in May.
Democrats have been complaining because GOP senators will not allow them to be involved in redrafting the bill.
Reports say democrats are planning to slow down the process with extended speeches on the chamber floor leading up to vote.
The republicans self-imposed deadline for the repeal bill vote is set for July 4th.