At this point two years ago, all eyes were on the special election in Georgia's 6th Congressional District. By Election Day on June 20, 2017, more than $55M had been spent in the race to replace former GOP Rep./HHS Secretary Tom Price in this suburban Atlanta district. Harnessing the energy of the national Democratic 'resistance' to Trump, Democratic nominee Jon Ossoff raised $30M — more than five times that of the GOP nominee (and eventual winner), Karen Handel. For her part, Handel benefitted from $18M in SuperPAC and campaign committee spending. Before that, almost 14 years ago to the date, the national parties poured money and attention on a special election in California's 50th CD to replace indicted GOP Rep. Duke Cunningham.
Republicans held on to both seats, but in 2006 and 2018, their party went on to lose seats and their majority in the November midterm election. So much for the predictive power of a special election. Even so, special elections have often provided a good opportunity for a party to juice up its donor base, test out
What is The Cook Political Report?
The Cook Political Report is an independent, non-partisan newsletter that analyzes elections and campaigns for the US House of Representatives, US Senate, Governors and President as well as American political trends.
Subscribe Today
Our subscribers have first access to individual race pages for each House, Senate and Governors race, which will include race ratings (each race is rated on a seven-point scale) and a narrative analysis pertaining to that race.