Watch: Karen Handel Sworn In As The Newest Member Of Congress

Matt Vespa | June 27, 2017 7:00 AM

Well, it’s official: Karen Handel is now the Republican congresswoman representing Georgia’s sixth district. The most expensive House race ended with Handel beating Democrat Jon Ossoff by a roughly 52/48 margin. It was close. Maybe too close, but a win is a win. Saying we were close is still a loss, something that Democrats have yet to understand. They’re still losers. In special elections, Democrats are 0-4 in Donald Trump’s America.

NEW: Speaker Ryan officially swears in newly elected Reps. Karen Handel and Ralph Norman after special election wins https://t.co/c8WxE0BwjS pic.twitter.com/ROix70qOEa
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) June 26, 2017

Democrats were salivating over the prospect of flipping GA-06, but the Republican base came home, partially due to the attack on the Republican baseball team in Alexandria, Virginia that occurred roughly a week before the election. James Hodgkinson, a left wing activist, opened fire on the team during their early morning practice on June 14, severely wounding House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA). House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was hung around Ossoff’s neck as well, portraying him as too liberal for the district. There were questions of Ossoff’s residency, though GA-06 is chock full of transplants, who are mostly liberal voters, that probably didn’t care if Ossoff lives a few miles outside the district. Yet, it will be interesting to see how many of those who didn’t vote in the April18 election, voted in the runoff. In Georgia, that’s allowed. Anyone who missed the original primary election date—April18—could have voted on June 20. According to Americans for Prosperity-Georgia, these non-jungle primary voters trended conservative on economic freedom issues and worked hard to remind them that they could vote in the runoff, along with reiterating the issues on the table.

Ralph Norman, the Republican who won South Carolina’s special election, was also sworn in yesterday. Handel and Norman filled the vacancies left by Reps. Tom Price and Rick Mulvaney, who resigned to become President Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary and Director of the Office Of Management and Budget respectively.