Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath defeated Karen Handel in 2018 in a tightly contested race which McBath won by just 1 percentage point in Georgia's 6th Congressional District.
In 2017, Handel defeated Jon Ossoff in a special election to replace former Trump administration official Tom Price, which became the most expensive House election in history.
McBath is the first nonwhite congressperson to represent Georgia's 6th Congressional District.
Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath and former congresswoman Karen Handel are set for a November rematch in Georgia's 6th Congressional District. The district includes suburbs in northern Atlanta and portions of DeKalb, Fulton, and Cobb Counties.
The candidates
Handel narrowly lost the Republican primary election for Governor in 2010 as she was bashed by her opponent for being too soft-handed on abortion and gay rights. After her defeat in the primary, Handel worked for Susan G. Komen, a breast cancer nonprofit, but was removed after pushing for the company to cease any financial support for Planned Parenthood.
McBath lost her son to gun violence in 2012 and became a gun-control activist. She decided to run for Congress after the mass shooting of a high school in Parkland, Florida. She was the first nonwhite congressperson to represent Georgia's 6th Congressional District.
The district
Georgia's 6th Congressional District comprises the affluent northern suburbs of Atlanta and portions of DeKalb, Fulton, and Cobb Counties.
The district was once represented by former House speaker and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, but is now rapidly trending in Democrats' direction as suburban and college-educated voters turn away from the GOP over their dislike of Trump.
While Mitt Romney easily carried the 6th District by over 23 percentage points in 2012, Trump carried it by just 1.5 points in 2016, and Stacey Abrams carried the district by over three points in her 2018 gubernatorial campaign, according to the Daily Kos.
The money race
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, incumbent McBath has raised over $7.3 million, spent $5.6 million, and has $1.8 million in cash on hand. Her opponent, Handel, has raised less than half of that — $2.7 million, has spent $1.8 million, and has only $1 million on hand.
In her 2017 special election race against Jon Ossoff, Handel raised $8.7 million as she bested her opponent who outraised her by $22 million.
What experts say
The race between McBath and Handel is rated as "leans Democratic" by Inside Elections, and "likely Democratic" by the Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
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