Democrat Jon Ossoff has taken a 5-point lead, 51 to 46, over Republican Karen Handel, with just eight days to go until the June 20 runoff for the 6th Congressional District. According to FiveThirtyEight, the race is still too close to call. (Getty Images)
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Polls may indicate some alarming news for the GOP in Georgia's special election
June 12, 2017
Jon Ossoff, the Democratic candidate for Georgia's 6th Congressional District, currently holds a lead over Republican opponent Karen Handel in the runoff fight for the historically GOP-held seat, according statistics site FiveThirtyEight.
FiveThirtyEight released new analysis of an unspecified group of "various pollsters" Monday that reveals that Ossoff has grown steadily in his lead over Handel. For March and April, Ossoff maintained only a 1-point lead in the polls over his Republican opponent. Yet Ossoff extended his lead to 2 points in May, with 49 percent to Handel's 47 percent.
And now Ossoff has taken a 5-point lead, 51 to 46, with just eight days to go until the June 20 runoff.
According to FiveThirtyEight, the race for the 6th District is still too close to call, and Handel may end up attracting independent voters in the last few days of the race. However, FiveThirtyEight believes that there is no reason a sudden shift from undecided voters to Handel will happen.
FiveThirtyEight also noted that Ossoff polled at just under 50 percent going into the April 18 jungle primary, but he failed to attain over half of the vote to avoid a runoff and fill the seat left behind by Republican Rep. Tom Price, who left the House to serve as President Donald Trump's health and human services secretary. Ossoff received 48 percent of the vote and Handel placed second with 20 percent.
In just the last two months, Ossoff's runoff campaign has received $15 million dollars in donations — many of which came from outside the state — bringing his campaign's total donations to $23.6 million. The race has become the most expensive House contest in history as both Democrats and Republicans have sought to use the election to send a message about the state of the Trump administration and the strength of the Democratic Party.
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