Republican candidate for Georgia's Sixth Congressional seat Karen Handel leaves an election night watch party after addressing supporters in Roswell, Ga., Tuesday, April 18, 2017. Republicans are bidding to prevent a major upset in a conservative Georgia congressional district Tuesday where Democrats stoked by opposition to President Donald Trump have rallied behind a candidate who has raised a shocking amount of money for a special election. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Karen Handel
Republican candidate for Georgia's Sixth Congressional seat Karen Handel leaves an election night watch party after addressing supporters in Roswell, Ga., Tuesday, April 18, 2017. Republicans are bidding to prevent a major upset in a conservative Georgia congressional district Tuesday where Democrats stoked by opposition to President Donald Trump have rallied behind a candidate who has raised a shocking amount of money for a special election. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Karen Handel

Jon Ossoff continues to be a better candidate than Karen Handel. With just over two weeks until the June 20 special election in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, the race continues to be hard-fought, and Handel continues to be kind of … weak. While Ossoff continued hitting Handel on her history of defunding cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood, someone wrote Handel some lines, for her appearance at the state Republican convention, attempting to make her sound witty or relevant or something:

Riffing on the 1979 hit “Devil Went Down to Georgia,” she compared House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi – a favorite foil of the GOP – with a certain horned character: “Nancy is coming down to Georgia. She’s looking for a seat to steal.”

She added, rhyming: “Well, Nancy, my name is Karen. And it might be a sin. But I’ll take your bet – you’re going to regret – cause Georgia’s got Handel in.”

Oh, my. Next time any Republican tries to claim that this seat isn’t gerrymandered to benefit Republicans, point them to that “seat to steal” line, but mostly, oof. What Handel succeeded at showing here is that a nearly 40-year-old country song is too hip for her to successfully riff on. It was also an interesting contrast to something she said about Democrats the previous night at a fundraiser: “Let me tell you they’re determined. They’re also kind of angry.” A lot of Democrats are angry, for sure. But Handel whined about other people’s anger the night before she slotted Nancy Pelosi in as the devil, so … yeah.

Ossoff, meanwhile, is running an ad featuring breast cancer survivors pointing out that Handel “jeopardized cancer screenings for thousands of women” and that “If Karen Handel didn’t want to fund Planned Parenthood, she didn’t have to take the job at Susan G. Komen.” Ossoff followed up the ad by saying that “What we don’t need is for career politicians to be imposing their rigid personal views at the expense of public health in Georgia.” (Watch the ad below.)

The most important thing right now is for every Democrat in the 6th District to vote. Early voting is going on now—click here for full early voting locations and hours. 

Can you chip in $3 to help Jon Ossoff finish strong?


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